West Ham United 3-1 Swansea City

  • Published
Andy CarrollImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Eight of Andy Carroll's last 12 Premier League goals have been headers

  • Carroll scores first goals since March

  • Win is West Ham's third in a row

  • Swansea without an away win since August

Andy Carroll scored twice as West Ham moved up to third in the Premier League with victory against 10-man Swansea.

Wilfried Bony put the visitors ahead with a clinical finish but Carroll headed in the equaliser for his first goal since March.

Bony then hit the bar but Carroll netted again with a second header.

Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was sent off for a foul on Diafra Sakho, who then wrapped up victory with an emphatic strike late on.

The win, West Ham's third in succession, means they have 27 points and are six behind second-place Manchester City.

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Former Hammers striker John Hartson: "Carroll's performance was a superb example of the art of an old-fashioned centre-forward. Swansea simply could not cope with him and it was the sort of display I would have been proud of myself."

Under Sam Allardyce, the Hammers have undergone something of a reinvention this season, playing a more flowing, inventive passing style instead of the direct football they had become known for in recent years.

That was on display early on as Swansea, who had not won away from home in the league since beating Manchester United 2-1 in the first game of the season, toiled in the opening stages.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was sent off in the second half

But with Bony, the Premier League's top scorer in 2014, Swansea would always be threatening with the few chances they created, and that proved the case midway through the first half as they snatched the lead.

Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jefferson Montero combined to open up the West Ham defence before Montero pulled the ball back for Bony to sidefoot home from the middle of the area.

Media caption,

Allardyce praises 'unstoppable' Carroll

The goal unsettled West Ham and ushered in a period of Swansea dominance as Sigurdsson and Bony both had shots flash wide of goal.

It prompted West Ham to go more direct, and it was a tactic that paid dividends just before the break as Carl Jenkinson clipped the ball into the box and Carroll rose highest to nod a trademark header into the far corner.

While a danger at set pieces, Carroll struggled to form an effective partnership with Enner Valencia, who was replaced at half-time by Sakho. His pace, coupled with Carroll's physical presence, posed a constant menace to the Swansea defence in the second half.

Bony launched an effort against the bar for Swansea, but it was a rare foray forward and instead West Ham took the lead, Carroll again climbing highest to direct a header from Stewart Downing's corner beyond Fabianski.

Media caption,

Swansea gifted West Ham win - Monk

Minutes later, Swansea's and Fabianski's afternoon got worse as the Polish goalkeeper was shown a red card after he charged out of his area and clattered into Sakho.

That effectively ended the visitors' chances of getting back into the game and instead Sakho made the points safe as he burst through to fire in a third from Carroll's headed pass.

Swansea manager Garry Monk:

"We did not make enough correct decisions. The only time we did that we scored the goal.

"We didn't do that enough and really some of the defending, we gifted it to them on a plate to be honest. No complaints with the result, we didn't deserve anything from the game."

On Fabianski's sending off: "If you look at the build-up to it, he [Sakho] knocks the ball past the keeper with his hand. Realistically it should have been a free-kick to us, it wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity either. Hopefully we will appeal it."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Wilfried Bony is the Premier League top scorer in 2014 and his goal against West Ham was his 19th of the year

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Andy Carroll's equaliser was his first goal at Upton Park since March 2013

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

West Ham had won nine of their previous 11 games in which they had scored at home

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