-V- Sunday 27th October 2013 at 16:00. Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea Referee: Phil Dowd, Assistant Referee's: R West & M Perry, 4th Official: R East Odds: Swansea 3/4, Draw 14/5, West Ham 9/2 Match Preview Swansea return to Premier League action this weekend having put their league home form hoodoo to rest with a 4-0 thrashing of Sunderland. Admittedly, the Mackems did give away a clumsy penalty and chuck another one in for good measure, but that won’t stop Swansea relishing the visit of a rather hot and cold West Ham on Sunday. That said, the Hammers travel to South Wales with plenty of hope in their hearts. The 3-0 win at Spurs will still be fresh in the memory and confidence should be hardly dented by the home defeat to a very competent Manchester City side. This game is set up rather nicely for two clubs who will more probably than not be occupying a league position between 14 and 8 come May. A home tie in the Europa League is welcome for the Swans, sparing them some gargantuan trek to the depths of Eastern Europe prior to a game that they will feel is very winnable. West Ham should use the time to work out exactly how they’ll counter Swansea’s rapid passing game and mobile front-line. They’ll also want to remind themselves about giving away sloppy free-kicks around the 18-yard box: they've conceded three directly from areas like that already this season. West Ham will fancy their chances of packing the midfield and hitting Swansea on the break. Defensively, the Hammers have been solid and there’s been a certain amount of “Come on then, see if you can score” attitude in the resistance shown to bigger teams than Swansea. Team News The Swans will be without local lad Ben Davies and wardrobe-like defender Ashley Williams. Both are out due to ankle injuries. Leon Britton will start, a fixture one would assume he’d relish being a former West Ham player who failed to make the breakthrough in the Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole era. West Ham lost Guy Demel during the 3-1 Man City defeat to a dead leg. If he isn't passed fit for the match, Joey O’Brien will fill in at right-back. It remains to be seen whether Sam Allardyce plays with or without a striker. One imagines his opposite number has seen all that before. Recent Form Swansea City Swansea 1-1 Kuban Krasnodar (EL) Swansea 4-0 S'land (Prem) So'ton 2-0 Swansea (Prem) Swansea 1-0 St Gallen (EL) Swansea 1-2 Arsenal (Prem) West Ham United West Ham 1-3 Man City (Prem) Spurs 0-3 West Ham (Prem) Hull 1-0 West Ham (Prem) West Ham 3-2 Cardiff (LC) Key Battle: Leon Britton vs Kevin Nolan Britton has been enjoying his football of late and his performances reflect his love of spraying the passes round. West Ham will need to get among this kind of action if they’re going to break up Swansea’s rhythm and take something from the Liberty. Compare and contrast the performances of Britton and Nolan in their last Premier League outings. Britton is busy, busy, busy completing a tidy 87 passes out of 92 attempted. Nolan, in contrast, struggled to get into the game against Man City and will need to do more if he winds up as West Ham’s most advanced midfielder. If it’s not Nolan, this job may well fall to Mo Diame. The Managers Michael Laudrup up against Allardyce will have most hacks generalizing about silk vs steel, artistry vs graft and smooth vs rough. Which is a bit of a shame really, as Allardyce’s side have played some decent football this campaign, even without the much-missed Andy Carroll. The development of Ravel Morrison is a welcome and unexpected fillip, which Allardyce has been quick to capitalise on. The two managers' approach to the game is certainly different, but it’s interesting to note they absolutely stick to their guns no matter what. Plan A remains the focus and Plan B often isn’t up to much. Facts and Figures # Swansea City will be looking to win successive Premier League games for the first time since December 1st 2012. # West Ham have not won back-to-back Premier League away games since December 2007. # The last three competitive meetings between Swansea and West Ham have seen the home side win whilst keeping a clean sheet. # There have been just four goals scored in the last four Premier League away games that West Ham have played, with three of those goals coming for the Hammers at Tottenham. # The Hammers have the worst shooting accuracy in the Premier League this season (29.6%). # West Ham have won six points fewer after eight games this season (8) than they had in 2012-13 (14). # Five of the eight goals that West Ham have conceded this season have been from set-piece situations - a league-high 63%. # There have been more goals scored at the Liberty Stadium this season (16) than at any other Premier League ground. # Swansea's victory over Sunderland last weekend was their first home win in nine attempts (L5 D3). # The Hammers have failed to score in six of their last nine Premier League away matches. Last 5 Meetings W'ham 1-0 Swans (Prem, Feb 13) Swans 3-0 W'ham (Prem, Aug 12) Swans 1-0 W'ham (FAC, Jan 99) W'ham 1-1 Swans (FAC, Jan 99) Swans 2-3 W'ham (LC, Oct 85) Team Line-Up's (Completely Guessed) Swansea City -------------Vorm------------- -Rangel - Chico - Amat - Taylor- ---Britton ----- de Guzman--- Dyer ----- Michu ---- Routledge -----------Bony------------ West Ham United --------Jaaskelainen--------- --O’Brien - Tomkins - Reid -Rat-- ------Noble ------- Nolan ------ ------Downing ---- Vaz Te----- -----Morrison ----- Diame---- My Prediction Swansea City 2-0 West Ham United And last but by no means least: DISCUSS!!
Plenty of info there for a 'home' game thread Hope we can turn the pressure up on West Spam, after a disappointing performance last night Cummon City
I really hope we have a bit more tempo to our game compared to last night. If we do, and in particular if we can start to bring in the completely wasted Bony we'll win. For that reason alone I'd like to see Hernandez in for Routledge, at least to start. Good thread KDA, and you may want to update the recent form to reflect last night's draw.
I agree with that knackered, but would personally bring him in for Dyer, although Routs hasn't been at the top of his game of late, he has more ability than Dyer in regards to the final ball. Id also go with JDG and Shelvey in the midfield rather than using Canas or Britton, as long as both are willing to do some defending if needed. If not then too much of a risk and would go with Shelvey or JDG and Leon. But would prefer two more offensive minded, but only if they are willing to do tthe leg work as well.
Interesting if true. Michael Laudrup is thought to be considering a recall for Ashley Williams for the clash with West Ham after a five-week absence. The Swans' skipper hasn't played since the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace after picking up an ankle injury and wasn't expected to feature again until November. However, Laudrup is keeping his fingers crossed Williams could prove his fitness in time to face West Ham this weekend as he looks to combat the Londoners physical style. Elsewhere, Ben Davies is out with an ankle injury, while Pablo Hernandez is a doubt as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury. Laudrup is likely to shuffle his pack for the clash with the Hammers, with Michel Vorm, Leon Britton and Jonathan De Guzman likely to return to the starting XI after not making it off the bench in the Europa League clash with Kuban Krasnodar.
Who decided to make this match thread a sticky ? Good thinking to be fair, easy to find I bet it was Valley Neveroff is too dull to think of it
I will make your's a sticky as well, so don't fret. I'm expecting over 1000 post on yours, then a gain the board might be a ghost town with everybody being banned. It will be taken down as a sticky on Monday.
The Swans to bounce back from Thursday evening with a resounding 3-1 victory. You heard it here first
KDA, better than brilliant pal ! Great thread 9 out of 10 'cos you didn't mention our sian somewhere.......
Nice to see a thread started by an opposition team that doesn't fall for the media line of 'long ball Sam'. Yeah, quite possible it'll be a '4-6-0', we needed another striker in the window as Maiga, Cole and Vaz Te just aren't up for the job tbh. Good luck for the season (but not today), hope you do well as Swansea are my 2nd team (born in Glanaman and half my family live there)
