SWANSEA CITY v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 26th December 2015, 3:00pm
Liberty Stadium

MATCH NOTES

The game will be the 36th competitive meeting of the two clubs. Swansea have a slight edge in terms of victories with 15 compared to Albion's 13. There have been eight Premier League clashes with Albion winning three and Swansea five.

Boxing Day last year saw the Baggies slump to a 3-1 defeat at home to Manchester City whilst the Swans recorded a 1-0 win at home over Aston Villa.

The Baggies have won just one of their previous nine Premier League games that have taken place on Boxing Day - the 2-1 success at Queens Park Rangers in 2012.

Albion are winless in four matches (D3, L1), their joint-worst run under Tony Pulis.

If he plays a part in the game Craig Gardner will make his 50th league appearance for the Baggies.

Albion's last six games: Bournemouth (H) 1-2; Liverpool (A) 2-2; Tottenham Hotspur (H) 1-1; West Ham United (A) 1-1; Arsenal (H) 2-1; Manchester United (A) 0-2.

Swansea City's last six games: West Ham United (H) 0-0; Manchester City (A) 1-2; Leicester City (H) 0-3; Liverpool (A) 0-1; Bournemouth (H) 2-2; Norwich City (A) 0-1.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Tony Pulis will be without the suspended duo of James McClean and Salomon Rondon who start three match suspensions following their dismissals in last week's defeat at home to Bournemouth.

Argentine midfielder Claudio Yacob is available again after a spell of compassionate leave.

Swansea City

Wayne Routledge and Angel Rangel are both fit for the Swans after their recent injuries.

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 19/5, Swansea City Win: EVS, Draw: 21/10.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Lambert 15/2, Berahino 8/1, Anichebe 8/1, Sessegnon 10/1, Gnabry 11/1, McManaman 12/1, Gardner 12/1, Morrison 12/1, Brunt 20/1, Dawson 20/1, Fletcher 25/1, Yacob 33/1, McAuley 33/1, Chester 33/1.

Swansea City: Gomis 9/2, Ayew 11/2, Sigurdsson 11/2, Emnes 11/2, Routledge 13/2, Shelvey 15/2, Barrow 15/2, Montero 9/1, Sung-Yueng Ki 9/1, Grimes 12/1, Cork 14/1, Rangel 25/1, Fernandez 25/1, Amat 25/1, Bartley 25/1, Britton 25/1, Williams 33/1, Naughton 33/1.

No goalscorer: 13/2.

www.williamhill.com

REFEREE

Roger East (Wiltshire)

East officiated three Albion games last season - the 0-0 draw at home to Liverpool in April, the 2-0 defeat at Stoke City in December and the 0-0 draw at Southampton in August.

The Wiltshire official has taken charge of one Swansea game during 2015/16 - the Swans' 3-1 defeat at Southampton in September.

He has refereed one previous game between the sides - in March 2010 when the Baggies won a Championship clash 2-0 in South Wales.

Albion have failed to score in five of the last six games East has officiated.

East has issued 50 yellow cards and one red in the 16 games he has officiated so far this season.

A full run-down of East's history refereeing the Baggies can be found here

TICKET INFORMATION

Albion will be backed by 1,000 supporters after the club sold out it's ticket allocation.

WEATHER FORECAST

Thick cloud, 13°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST MEETING AT THE LIBERTY STADIUM

Swansea City 3-0 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 30 August 2014, 3:00pm

Swansea City: Fabianski; Rangel, Amat, Williams (c), Taylor; Ki, Shelvey (Carroll 84); Dyer, Sigurdsson, Routledge (Montero 66); Bony (Gomis 76). Subs not used: Tremmel (gk), Tiendalli, Fernandez, Richards.

Goalscorers: Dyer 2 & 71, Routledge 24

Booked: Ki Sung-Yeung 73 (foul)

Albion: Foster; Wisdom, Dawson, Olsson, Davidson (Gamboa 72); Gardner, Mulumbu; Berahino, Dorrans (Sessegnon HT), Brunt (c) (Morrison 72); Ideye. Subs not used: Myhill (gk), McAuley, Yacob, Baird.

Booked: Dorrans 27 (foul), Gardner 62 (foul)

Attendance: 20,318

Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire)

Swansea went top of the Barclays Premier League as West Brom were swept aside at the Liberty Stadium. Garry Monk's men extended their 100 per cent record to three games as a Nathan Dyer double and a spectacular volley from Wayne Routledge rewarded some excellent Swansea approach play. But Swansea were also aided by some pitiful defending, with West Brom still seeking their first league victory under new manager Alan Irvine.

Swansea had the perfect start inside two minutes when Dyer picked up Wilfried Bony's lay-off and drove towards the Albion area. Dyer found Gylfi Sigurdsson and he took advantage of the Icelandic midfielder's clever back-heel return and Jonas Olsson's untimely slip to round Ben Foster and score his second goal in as many Premier League games. It was a high-tempo start from a Swansea side buoyant after opening wins over Manchester United and Burnley, and Bony and Jonjo Shelvey both tried their luck from distance against Albion opponents struggling to get a foothold in the contest. Bony headed over Shelvey's cross with West Brom temporarily reduced to 10 men with Olsson off the pitch, but Swansea doubled their lead after 24 minutes with a goal to remember. Sigurdsson centred following Chris Brunt's poor clearance and, although Craig Dawson was first to the ball, his header lacked distance. Routledge was onto the dropping ball in an instant and with both feet off the ground he fizzed an 18-yard volley past the helpless Foster. It almost got worse for Albion when Olsson headed Routledge's cross onto his own crossbar and there was no threat from the visitors until club record £10m signing Brown Ideye, making his first Premier League start, sent in a low shot which Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski held comfortably. Routledge almost added another spectacular effort in the closing stages of the first half when Albion failed to clear a free-kick and the winger flashed a volley just over from 18 yards.

West Brom showed more appetite for the fight at the start of the second period but they were fortunate to escape when Dyer found down space down the right for the umpteenth time and rolled a ball into the box which Bony was just unable to connect with. Swansea were a real threat on the counter every time a West Brom attack broke down and Routledge led the charge when Brunt lost possession. Routledge got a return pass off Bony and his cross would have found the lurking Sigurdsson but for a fingertip intervention from Foster. Stephane Sessegnon's half-time arrival appeared to pep up Albion and the game was more of an even contest, albeit scrappy for some periods and tackling which could be described as dubious at best. But Ki fired straight at Foster and then there was controversy when referee Paul Tierney, in charge of his first Premier League game, adjudged that Dawson's intervention to stop Bony escaping was a deliberate back-pass to his goalkeeper. Bony took the resulting free-kick from 12 yards and his effort was blocked on the line by what appeared to be right arm of full-back Andre Wisdom. Tierney waved away Swansea's penalty protests and Bony was out of luck again when he raced onto substitute Jefferson Montero's pass but blazed over from about 10 yards. But Swansea were not to be denied and it was the same Sigurdsson-Dyer combination for the first goal which again paid off after 71 minutes. Angel Rangel played the ball into Sigurdsson in midfield and he was allowed time and space to pick out Dyer who ran clear and finished emphatically past an exposed Foster. Swansea were in total control but Jordi Amat's mistake at the near post was almost punished when Sessegnon fired against the bar and then Saido Berahino's shot was deflected inches wide of Fabianski's goal. But Swansea comfortably saw out the rest of the game to make it nine points from nine.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Baggies' coach Gerry Francis had a short spell as a Swansea player back in 1984.

Swans' defender Ashley Williams was in the youth system at The Hawthorns during the late 1990s before being released at the age of 16.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Paul Agnew, Kwame Ampadu, Paul Anderson, Craig Beattie, Harry Boston, Walter Boyd, Fred Buck, Adam Chambers, Arthur Cook, Ted Crowe, Neil Cutler, Robbie Dennison, Bob Finch, Roy Finch, Jack Haines, Carl Heggs, Ivor Jones, Des Lyttle, Amos Lloyd, Tudor Martin, Tony Millington, Luke Moore, Frank Nouble, Stewart Phillips, Ronnie Rees, David Rushbury, Scott Sinclair, David Smith, David Stewart, James Thomas, Kim Wassell and Colin West.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS SWANSEA CITY