da dobrowin： West Ham travel to Swansea City’s Liberty stadium knowing that their record over the Swans is very good indeed. The Swans, on the other hand are in dire form, relegation form that has seen their manager, Garry Monk, sacked, and also seen them slip into the Premier League’s relegation zone.
da fazobetai： Swansea are a far cry from the charming and free-flowing team we saw at the start of the season, whilst West Ham are a far cry from the team we saw taken to penalties by Maltese side Birkirkara and lose to Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League qualifying rounds.
But after last week’s performance, in an unlucky 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad, Swansea will be hoping that a home game against West Ham will pave the way for a return to form, especially for the likes of Andre Ayew, Bafetimbi Gomis and Gylfi Sigurdsson who have lost their way over the past few weeks.
Here are seven pre-match stats to whet the appetite for the penultimate Premier League match before Christmas day.
West Ham have won three and lost none of their last five Premier League games against Swansea.
The Swans have won none of their last six Premier League home games at Liberty Stadium (D3 L3), failing to score in four of those matches.
Swansea have scored the opening goal in just three Premier League games this season; less often than any other team.
Bafetimbi Gomis scored with four of his first 10 shots (excl. blocked) in the Premier League this season, but has since netted just one goal from 21 shots (excl. blocked).
Swansea have played a lower proportion of their passes in the opposition half than any other Premier League side this season (54%).
The Hammers have had the most goal attempts from set-piece situations in the Premier League this season (29).
The injured Dimitri Payet has created 47 goalscoring chances for West Ham in the Premier League this season; 27 more than any other player for the club.