The Match
Swansea started the season with a bang, and while their form may not be as electric as when the season started they will be very pleased with their efforts thus far. Off-field transfer wranglings aside Leon Britton's return to the team, Monk would hope, will provide a boost - to our possession statistics at least. Gomis should come in for Bony - away at the African Cup of Nations - while Tom Carroll will deputise for Ki, himself away at the Asian Cup. It goes without saying that dealing with Andy Carroll - if he's fit to start - will be key in deciding the game. Surely he can't repeat his performance from a few weeks ago...
West Ham come into the game suffering from a dip in form of their own, though as with the Swans their overall performance means they will quite rightly be proud of their league position at this point in the season. With Sakho out with a recurring back injury & others away, like Bony, at the ACON a reshuffle could be needed by Allardyce, but he'll be confident despite his side having only won once in their last six in all competitions. If your team had demolished the Swans as thoroughly as West Ham did only a few weeks back you'd be confident too.
Prior Form
Sourced from whoscored.com
Completely guessed lineups
Team News
West Ham have Carroll back in contention after he recovered from a foot injury, but Sakho remains out with a recurring back problem. Maiga & Kouyate are both away at the African Cup of Nations.
From http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
Statistics & Trivia
- Swansea City have dropped more points from winning positions than any other team in the Barclays Premier League (16).
- West Ham United have scored more headed goals than any other team in the top flight (14).
- Wayne Routledge received Swansea's fifth red of the season in their last game, the most shown to a team in the division - though they have had two rescinded.
- Sam Allardyce's side have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven Premier League matches.
- Ashley Williams has made a league-high 233 defensive clearances in the Premier League this season.
- West Ham have had 13 different goalscorers in the Premier League, the joint most of any team along with Chelsea.
- In Swansea's last 34 Premier League games at Liberty Stadium they have only won back to games three times.
- This is Swansea's best haul of points in their four Premier League seasons after 20 matches (29 points).
- This is West Ham's best record after 20 Premier League matches (32 points level with 1998-99 but with a better goal difference +7 to +1).
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk is keen to avenge the 3-1 defeat at the Boleyn Ground:
"I felt disappointed that day because we didn't reach the levels we have set this season. We were up against a very good side, but we didn't use our strengths. Hopefully we can do that a lot better on Saturday and get a positive result.
"I think they [West Ham] have done very well this season. I watched them against Everton on Tuesday and they played some excellent football. They have scored some good goals and have a strong team with a great squad of players."
"He [Andy Carroll] has done well against us. We have to deal with that and stop the source as well. Hopefully we can implement that into the game on Saturday and the players are understanding a lot more about those situations."
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/swansea-city-v-west-ham-monk-eager-avenge-upton-park-defeat#xgRFLIYKopRrgPMT.99
Analysis
As mentioned above, surely we can't be as thoroughly outdone by West Ham - or Andy Carroll I should say - as we were the last time these two sides met. Monk will be massively keen to prove that Carroll isn't some kind of footballing kryptonite to Swansea's Superman, and you can bet your bottom dollar that someone will actually be marking him from corners this time around.
Quite how he got so much space you can't say, but I do feel that with Leon Britton returning to the team the Swans are in a good position to capitalise on West Ham's dip in form. With Britton back in the team we averaged around 59% possession against QPR, whereas previously this season we've hovered around the 50% mark - which as anyone familiar with stats and the Swans will be able to testify is very low for a team that prides itself on retaining the ball.
I'm always confident when we're at home, and despite Gomis' seemingly want-away comments he'll have a chance to show what he can do. He'll have a job though as I rate both Collins & Reid at the back for West Ham, and if Dyer & Routledge have off days we'll struggle to create anything. It may perhaps fall to Sigurdsson to make the difference, though more often than not this season he hasn't disappointed.
Tom Carroll & Leon Britton will have a huge task in closing down the West Ham midfield, thus cutting the supply to Carroll & Valencia, but as I've mentioned if we can retain possession that becomes less of an issue. Providing we don't turn off from set-pieces. If we can restrict West Ham to hopeful balls up to Carroll we may have a chance.
Despite a Wilfried Bony shaped hole in the team, I'll still predict a Swans win... because I always do. I'll go with 2-1 this time. Goals from Gomis & Routledge. Game on.