West Ham fall to 4-1 defeat at Swansea

Aaron Cresswell

Swansea City 4 – 1 West Ham United
Premier League

West Ham United fell to a 4-1 defeat at Swansea City on Saturday, conceding a brace of goals in each half to allow the Swans to draw level with them on 30 points in the Premier League table.

Michail Antonio scored the Club’s 1,000th Premier League goal with eleven minutes left on a disappointing day in South Wales, but it was no consolation in answer to the home side’s four-goal blast.

Ki Sung-Yueng got the goalscoring underway early on, drilling a shot into the bottom corner, before Mike van der Hoorn and Andy King scored from corners and Jordan Ayew made it four from the spot.

West Ham got off to the worst possible start, falling behing with just eight minutes on the clock. Ki was the goalscorer, stroking into the bottom right hand corner with his left foot after being afforded too much time on the edge of the box.

Nine minutes later it was so nearly 2-0 from a goalmouth scramble. van der Hoorn couldn’t force past Adrian with the first attempt, and from the follow-up, Declan Rice was positioned on the line to block from Federico Fernandez.

Winston Reid sustained what looked to be a nasty looking neck injury in the melee and was stretchered off after an eight-minute stoppage, forcing the Hammers into a defensive reshuffle with Sam Byram coming off the bench and Pablo Zabaleta moving inside to centre back.

Still the Swans were enjoying the better of the contest and Adrian had to beat away an Andre Ayew effort on 31, but from the following corner, van der Hoorn was granted a free run at the ball to head Ki’s left-wing corner home.

The Hammers introduced Michail Antonio at the break, but three minutes after the restart the mountain they faced became yet higher as King knocked home after Adrian saved Andre Ayew’s header from another corner.

Marko Arnautovic had an opportunity to reduce the arrears with 57 minutes on the clock, but Lukasz Fabianski was able to grab the shot after the Austria forward left Alfie Mawson on the deck.

Six minutes later it was well and truly game over as Cheikhou Kouyate felled Andre Ayew in the box and his brother Jordan stepped up to beat Adrian from 12 yards.

Michail Antonio did register a consolation eleven minutes from time, collecting Aaron Cresswell’s free-kick from deep, turning and shooting low into the net, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.

Swansea City: Fabianski, Naughton, van der Hoorn, Mawson, Fernandez (c) Olsson, Clucas (Abraham 90), King (Carroll 81), Ki, A. Ayew (Dyer 78), J. Ayew

Subs: Nordfeldt, Bartley, Narsingh, Britton

Goals: Ki 8, van der Hoorn 32, King 48, J.Ayew 63

West Ham United: Adrian, Rice, Reid (Byram 26), Cresswell, Zabaleta, Noble (c), Kouyate, Evra (Antonio 46), Lanzini, Arnautovic, Chicharito

Subs: Hart, Mario, Cullen, Browne, Hugill

Goal: Antonio 79

Booked: Noble, Kouyate, Arnautovic

Referee: Martin Atkinso