1. Sam Allardyce still has that rare element of surprise
When Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan returned from injuries, West Ham had the option of reverting to their old attacking ways with Nolan feeding off second balls from Carroll, or retaining the new passing football with Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho operating as two mobile forwards.
In this game, the Hammers boss surprisingly mixed it up with Valencia and Carroll starting up top, while retaining good options on the bench in Mauro Zarate, Carlton Cole and Sakho.
At this stage of the season, most teams are predictable but West Ham have a big advantage in that they have different forwards in good form so they can tailor their attack to a particular game with a certain combination.
2. Swansea hate leads
The Swans opened the scoring in the 19th minute but they ended up with nothing again. This defeat meant that Swansea have now lost 16 points from games they took the lead this season, which is more than any other side in the division.
Their goal came from a signature Swansea build-up that comprised quality one and two-touch football. They have proven in every game this season that they can actually out-play any team in the league when they get into that passing rhythm but the Welsh club just can’t seem to do that long enough and they end up giving opponents a way back in games.
3. Andy Carroll edged the tale of two strikers
Allardyce’s revelation in his press conference earlier in the week that he had a choice to either sign Carroll or Wilfried Bony in the summer of 2013 and went for former made this game a matchup of the forwards.
They both scored typical goals. Bony initially dropped back from West Ham’s defensive line before he opened up his body to pass unerringly into the far corner of the goal. Carroll netted a brace and assisted the Hammer’s third, all with his head.
Bony also had a good defensive performance as he was detailed to neutralise Carroll during set-pieces and he did a fine job, notwithstanding Carroll’s second goal when the Ivorian striker left his man.
They both actually had good games but given that Carroll scored twice and assisted, he was on the winning team and he profited from Bony’s mistake, the Hammers man edged the contest for this game.
4. Swansea defenders should have known better
Monk called his side’s performance in this game as one of the rare bad games his side has had this season and the way his defenders dropped their line will probably be one of the main disappointments.
West Ham have scored 11 headed goals already this season, which is five better than the second best side on that list, so Swansea’s back-four needed to be alert to that danger and keep their defensive line high. They would at least have prevented Carroll’s first goal.
5. West Ham should be more ruthless against 10 men
This is the second game this season where West Ham’s opponents had a man sent off and the Hammers showed little going forward. At the start of the season, West Ham could not really affect the game against Tottenham despite Kyle Naughton’s sending off and they ended up losing that derby.
In this game, Swansea actually looked more dangerous after Lukasz Fabianski was sent-off as the visitors enjoyed more of the ball and the territory. Sakho’s goal notwithstanding, Allardyce’s men could not keep the ball long enough with against 10 men which is something they need to address.
