Swansea City vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,661.
Monday 21 December 2015 11:05, UK
Swansea remain in the bottom three of the Premier League after being held to a 0-0 draw by West Ham at the Liberty Stadium.
After Saturday's results, Alan Curtis' side dropped down to 18th, but they started well with Adrian forced to make saves to deny Ki Sung-yueng and Andre Ayew.
The West Ham goalkeeper was called into action again in the second half to keep out a powerful Jack Cork volley but the visitors did have chances of their own as Lukasz Fabianksi tipped substitute Enner Valencia's curling effort over the bar.
However, neither side could find a winner as West Ham picked up their third successive goalless draw, while Swansea, who are still without a permanent manager following Garry Monk's sacking, stay in the relegation zone, two points from safety.
Swansea recalled Bafetimbi Gomis in place of the injured Wayne Routledge in the only change from defeat at Manchester City last time out and the striker was into the action early, turning Angelo Ogbonna and firing a shot over the bar.
The hosts, backed by noisy support, were piling on the pressure in the early stages and West Ham needed Ogbonna to block not once, but twice as Gomis and Gylfi Sigurdsson took aim at Adrian's goal in quick succession.
The Swans were enjoying the majority of the possession and they nearly made it count in the 25th minute when Gomis flicked the ball into the path of Ki, his low shot was well saved by the feet of Adrian.
West Ham, who were looking to hit the home side on the counter-attack, stirred in the 32nd minute when Zarate forced Fabianski into a flying save at his near post but it was Swansea who finished the half the stronger.
Just minutes before the interval they almost broke the deadlock when Ki's pass gave Gomis a sight of goal and, although he mis-hit his shot, Cork retrieved the situation to flick the ball into the path of Ayew, only for him to side-foot the ball into the side netting under pressure.
Swansea enjoyed the brunt of the possession again at the start of the second half and appeared to be building momentum when Cork's volley produced an acrobatic save from Adrian.
Moments later they wanted a penalty when Sigurdsson set up Ki for a shot which struck the trailing arm of James Collins, who had thrown himself into the path of the ball.
Ki led the protests as the Swansea players surrounded referee Lee Mason but he was unmoved and pointed for a corner rather than a penalty.
Despite Swansea's domination of the ball, West Ham did have a few moments as the game drew to a close with Fabianski tipping over Valencia's drive and Collins heading over. But there was to be no breakthrough as the visitors were held to their fourth straight draw.
Swansea, who have now just won once in 13 league games, did end a run of 10 Premier League games without a clean sheet but will remain in the relegation zone for Christmas.
Player ratings
Swansea: Fabianski (7), Rangel (6), Fernandez (6), Williams (7), Taylor (7), Britton (7), Cork (7), Ki (8), Sigurdsson (6), Ayew (7), Gomis (7).
Subs used: Naughton (6), Shelvey (5), Barrow (5).
West Ham: Adrian (7), Tomkins (6), Collins (7), Ogbonna (7), Cresswell (6), Noble (6), Song (7), Antonio (7), Kouyate (6), Zarate (6), Jelavic (5).
Subs: Jenkinson (5), Valencia (6), Obiang (5).
Man of the Match: Ki Sung-yueng
