After edging out Hull City last week with a slim margin and atrocious defending, West Ham United face Swansea away and Slaven Bilic will hope his side put in an improved performance this time. On the other hand, Swansea ended their six-match winless run against the Hammers with a 4-1 victory at Upton Park in May. Hence, it won’t be an easy game.
Team News
Swansea City- Swansea City will get a huge boost as Federico Fernandez and Ki Sung-Yeung, who were out with injuries, will be available for the Boxing Day home clash. Although Ki is expected to be on the bench, Fernandez will be in real contention to return in central defence.
Swansea have seen horrible defending in the last two weeks as they conceded six goals in defeats at West Brom and Middlesbrough. Under-pressure manager Bob Bradley might risk Fernandez at the back. Other players for contention are Kyle Naughton and Jack Cork.
West Ham United- Centre-forward Diafra Sakho is still unavailable for the selection as Slaven Bilic confirmed he is out for six to eight weeks due to a back injury. Although the Senegal international has only made two appearances so far, his availability on the bench gave the option to change tactics.
Apart from that, West Ham will continue to miss midfielder Gokhan Tore, who is out with a knee problem. Pedro Obiang is suspended and Reece Oxford (ankle) and Simone Zaza (knee) remain sidelined. Defender James Collins is a doubt as he continues his recovery from a muscular injury.
Predicted Line-ups
Swansea City- Fabianski, Mawson, Fernandez, Taylor, Naughton; Britton, Fulton; Barrow, Routledge, Sigurdsson; Llorente.
West Ham United- Randolph; Collins, Ogbonna, Reid; Antonio, Cresswell, Noble, Fer; Payet, Lanzini; Carroll.
Key Players
Swansea City- Llorente will no doubt get the duty of opening the goal scoring as early as possible. West Ham have hugely struggled to score and one goal might just be enough for Swansea to get the 3 points. Leroy Fer will the other key player. The Hammers’ midfield looked non-existent against Hull City last week and Fer could really punish them. He already has 6 goals to his name and will be hungry for more.
West Ham United- Of course, Dimitri Payet will be their main player up front. He has single-handedly pulled the team out of trouble at times. From dead ball accuracy to providing defence ripping passes up front to the forwards, he has been their star player so far. Michail Antonio and Lanzini have chipped in occasionally and Bilic will rely on the trio to make an impact this time too.
Odds
Swansea City @ 2.60
Draw @ 3.20
West Ham United @ 2.80
