Premier League Round Seven: The good, the bad and the ugly
The Bad
Laying the Hammer down
Yet again, West Ham failed to follow up a road victory against a Premier League giant with a subsequent win at home.
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West Ham first beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium before losing consecutive home fixtures to Leicester City and Bournemouth.
West Ham went then to Anfield and routed Liverpool 3-0. They followed it up with a home victory against Newcastle and a road victory against Manchester City. That is a lot of momentum for The Hammers to pick up. Surely this will launch them to the next level, right?
Wrong. The Hammers followed up that brilliant stretch of matches with a 2-2 home draw to Norwich City.
The match was level at 1-1 before Nathan Redmond scored on 83 minutes to put The Canaries in front. Cheikhou Kouyate saved West Ham’s blushes with a goal during stoppage time to earn a point.
REPORT: Kouyate scored a stoppage-time equaliser to earn West Ham a 2-2 draw with Norwich http://t.co/tAUIyKzTOZ pic.twitter.com/7nMO0KM4NW
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 26, 2015
West Ham came very close to throwing away all thre points at home yet again. The positive is that they found a goal to earn a point on the day, but West Ham must start consistently performing at home as they do on the road or the road victories will not mean as much at season’s end.
Winless month
Sunday August 30. Swansea City beat Manchester United 2-1 at The Liberty Stadium. That was the last time Swansea City won a match in any competition. Manchester United have since gone unbeaten and moved to the top of the table, meanwhile Swansea City have yet to win another Premier League game.
Here is how the season started for The Swans:
Chelsea, away: 2-2 DRAW; Newcastle, home: 2-0 WIN; Sunderland, away: 1-1 DRAW; York (Capital One Cup), home: 3-0 WIN; Manchester United, home: 2-1 WIN.
The Swans were cruising. Bafetimbi Gomis was doing his big cat celebration on a weekly basis and Swansea looked a major threat for a place in the Europa League – and maybe the Champions League to some – but the train has gone off the rails since then.
Here is how September went for The Swans:
Watford, away: 1-0 LOSS; Everton, home: 0-0 DRAW; Hull City (Capital One Cup), away: 1-0 LOSS; Southampton, away: 3-1 LOSS.
It's all gone wrong at Swansea, and @maxwellhicks says it's time for Garry Monk to rotate. http://t.co/ohIk7f9XM2 pic.twitter.com/SEtLhErOjm
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 27, 2015
Swansea scored seven goals in four league matches during August. Since then, the Swans have picked up one point and scored just one goal in three league matches. The barren month dropped Swansea to 11th place in the table.
Their dip in play culminated in a 3-1 thrashing away to Southampton. The Saints had not been playing particularly well and Swansea will be disappointed they were not more competitive in this fixture.
The Swans will now have to regroup for an October fixture list which features home matches with Tottenham, Stoke and Arsenal, and a trip to Villa Park.
Next: The Ugly?