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Swansea v West Ham United 
Referee: M Atkinson
Assistants: S Burt, D Cann
Fourth Official: L Probert
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Date: Saturday, 25 August
TEAM NEWS
New Swansea signing Kyle Bartley was not considered for selection last weekend, but may make his debut against West Ham.
He could replace injury doubt Chico Flores, who will have a late fitness test.
West Ham are set to be without Jack Collison, who missed the start of the season because of a knee injury.
Summer signings Alou Diarra and Modibo Maiga lack match fitness and may again have to settle for places on the bench.
MATCH PREVIEW
I'm a massive fan of clubs making left-field, innovative managerial appointments. It would have been very easy for Swansea to replace Brendan Rodgers with a predictable name from the perennial list of jobbing Premier League managers. That they didn't shows a maverick bravery which has thus far been rewarded in both Michael Laudrup's transfer market nous and, of course, last weekend's bolt-from-the-blue thumping of QPR. It was the club's record top-flight win, home or away.
Swansea's summer signings
Michu (Rayo Vallecano)
Chico Flores (Genoa)
Jonathan de Guzman (Villarreal)
Itay Shechter (Kaiserslautern)
Kyle Bartley (Arsenal)
Scott Tancock (Cardiff)
Jamie Proctor (Preston)
The quality Swansea have added is impressive. Michu grabbed the headlines, but Jonathan de Guzman should prove an excellent driving force in midfield, alongside the imminent addition of Ki Sung-Yueng. It's a measure of how far the club has come in just two years that the potential departure of Scott Sinclair to Manchester City would cause neither significant disruption nor weakening.
In preparing for a commentary I hand-write both squads side-by-side on a sheet of A4. Swansea's list is markedly longer than West Ham's - and that's with a number of junior players too. West Ham's lack of bodies might not be a problem in August, but the race is on to add depth for battles further down the line.
Matt Jarvis will do for starters. I've watched him develop from his beginnings at Gillingham into a full international at Wolves. If that deal is completed the Hammers will have bought wisely, even if the Molineux bosses quite rightly drove a hard bargain.
A home game with a transitional Aston Villa was probably the perfect opener for West Ham. Newly-promoted sides need to get points on the board early - remember the seasons Norwich (2004-05), Sunderland (2005-06) and Derby (2007-08) suffered after slow starts?
The win against Villa continues last year's momentum, and perhaps lifts the pressure for the trip to the Liberty Stadium, with their points tally already in credit. And speaking of points, I love a good stat, and my interest was piqued by this one, which is that Sam Allardyce is just a single point away from 1,000 of them as a manager.
Given Swansea's blistering start at Loftus Road, I'm sure the Hammers would happily take that single point back along the M4 with them come the end of Saturday's encounter, while the Swans will fancy themselves strongly to make it a 100% start in Laudrup's first competitive home match.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
It is 32 years since Swansea's last league win against West Ham, a 2-1 victory in Division Two on 29 March 1980.
The Hammers are unbeaten in their last six league games against the Swans, a run which includes all four previous top-flight encounters.
The last competitive meeting came in an FA Cup third-round replay in January 1999. Swansea (then playing in the fourth tier of English football) beat Premier League West Ham 1-0 through a Martin Thomas goal.
This fixture has not produced a goalless draw since 1937.
Swansea
According to Opta, the Swans scored with five of their six shots on target against QPR.
Last season it took the Welsh side until October to score five Premier League goals.
The 5-0 victory at Loftus Road was the Swans' biggest win in the top flight.
West Ham
Sam Allardyce's men have won their last six competitive games (including last season's play-offs), and are unbeaten in 10. Their last defeat was a 4-2 home loss by Reading on 31 March.
The Hammers won more away games (13) than home games (11) in last season's Championship.
They have lost their last four Premier League away matches. Their most recent away win in the top flight was a 3-1 victory at Blackpool on 2 February 2011.
Date: Saturday, 25 August
TEAM NEWS
New Swansea signing Kyle Bartley was not considered for selection last weekend, but may make his debut against West Ham.
He could replace injury doubt Chico Flores, who will have a late fitness test.
West Ham are set to be without Jack Collison, who missed the start of the season because of a knee injury.
Summer signings Alou Diarra and Modibo Maiga lack match fitness and may again have to settle for places on the bench.
MATCH PREVIEW
I'm a massive fan of clubs making left-field, innovative managerial appointments. It would have been very easy for Swansea to replace Brendan Rodgers with a predictable name from the perennial list of jobbing Premier League managers. That they didn't shows a maverick bravery which has thus far been rewarded in both Michael Laudrup's transfer market nous and, of course, last weekend's bolt-from-the-blue thumping of QPR. It was the club's record top-flight win, home or away.
Swansea's summer signings
Michu (Rayo Vallecano)
Chico Flores (Genoa)
Jonathan de Guzman (Villarreal)
Itay Shechter (Kaiserslautern)
Kyle Bartley (Arsenal)
Scott Tancock (Cardiff)
Jamie Proctor (Preston)
The quality Swansea have added is impressive. Michu grabbed the headlines, but Jonathan de Guzman should prove an excellent driving force in midfield, alongside the imminent addition of Ki Sung-Yueng. It's a measure of how far the club has come in just two years that the potential departure of Scott Sinclair to Manchester City would cause neither significant disruption nor weakening.
In preparing for a commentary I hand-write both squads side-by-side on a sheet of A4. Swansea's list is markedly longer than West Ham's - and that's with a number of junior players too. West Ham's lack of bodies might not be a problem in August, but the race is on to add depth for battles further down the line.
Matt Jarvis will do for starters. I've watched him develop from his beginnings at Gillingham into a full international at Wolves. If that deal is completed the Hammers will have bought wisely, even if the Molineux bosses quite rightly drove a hard bargain.
A home game with a transitional Aston Villa was probably the perfect opener for West Ham. Newly-promoted sides need to get points on the board early - remember the seasons Norwich (2004-05), Sunderland (2005-06) and Derby (2007-08) suffered after slow starts?
The win against Villa continues last year's momentum, and perhaps lifts the pressure for the trip to the Liberty Stadium, with their points tally already in credit. And speaking of points, I love a good stat, and my interest was piqued by this one, which is that Sam Allardyce is just a single point away from 1,000 of them as a manager.
Given Swansea's blistering start at Loftus Road, I'm sure the Hammers would happily take that single point back along the M4 with them come the end of Saturday's encounter, while the Swans will fancy themselves strongly to make it a 100% start in Laudrup's first competitive home match.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
It is 32 years since Swansea's last league win against West Ham, a 2-1 victory in Division Two on 29 March 1980.
The Hammers are unbeaten in their last six league games against the Swans, a run which includes all four previous top-flight encounters.
The last competitive meeting came in an FA Cup third-round replay in January 1999. Swansea (then playing in the fourth tier of English football) beat Premier League West Ham 1-0 through a Martin Thomas goal.
This fixture has not produced a goalless draw since 1937.
Swansea
According to Opta, the Swans scored with five of their six shots on target against QPR.
Last season it took the Welsh side until October to score five Premier League goals.
The 5-0 victory at Loftus Road was the Swans' biggest win in the top flight.
West Ham
Sam Allardyce's men have won their last six competitive games (including last season's play-offs), and are unbeaten in 10. Their last defeat was a 4-2 home loss by Reading on 31 March.
The Hammers won more away games (13) than home games (11) in last season's Championship.
They have lost their last four Premier League away matches. Their most recent away win in the top flight was a 3-1 victory at Blackpool on 2 February 2011.
Last edited by Admin on Thu 23 Aug 2012, 6:22 pm; edited 2 times in total
