Swansea City vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,829.
Saturday 3 March 2018 13:38, UK
West Ham manager David Moyes admits he has concerns over travelling to Swansea for the Premier League encounter at the Liberty Stadium, with adverse weather severely affecting parts of the UK.
Hammers supporters will make the 380-mile round trip this Saturday, with dozens of sporting fixtures already postponed due to the sub-zero conditions gripping the British Isles.
The majority of the UK is under severe weather warnings, and south Wales is one of the areas most affected by the snow.
Several clubs will carry out pitch inspections on Friday, and Moyes said: "The Met Office is saying people shouldn't travel, especially through Cardiff and down the M4.
"It is a concern at the moment and I'm guessing it shouldn't be any different for football teams and fans. I think the Premier League may need to look at that."
Should the game go ahead, West Ham can go six points clear of 18th-placed Swansea, but the hosts have won their last three games on home soil.
Moyes knows his side still faces a battle over the remainder of the season to retain their Premier League status, and he denied speculation linking Manuel Lanzini with a move to Liverpool.
When asked about the future of Lanzini, Moyes added: "You always want to keep your best players but there's no truth in that yet. We won't look at that until we know what league we are in."
Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal saw his side respond to the disappointing 4-1 defeat by Brighton with a 2-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday this week as the club reached the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1964.
The Portuguese feels the result has lifted the players, but he is wary of the threat West Ham pose to his side, and he believes a strong backing from the home fans will be needed in order to secure another vital three points towards safety.
"They are a good team with some good players," the Swans boss said. "I know the manager - I played against him in Europe when I was at Sporting and he was at Everton.
"He is a good manager and we have a lot of respect for West Ham. We expect a difficult game because they have a style that can create problems for opponents.
"But we know that style and we will try to block it. Then like all teams they have some weaknesses and we will try to exploit them."
Andre Ayew is set to make the first start of his second Swansea spell when his former club West Ham visit the Liberty Stadium.
Ayew has made a couple of substitute appearances since rejoining the Swans from West Ham in January, but he is now ready to start in attack alongside his brother Jordan.
Swansea have no new injury concerns following their FA Cup replay win over Sheffield Wednesday, and Lukasz Fabianski, Kyle Naughton and Alfie Mawson are all set to return for the Premier League clash after being rested in midweek.
Moyes admitted he has "one or two knocks" that are being assessed ahead of the trip to Wales, but there are no fresh injury concerns.
Lanzini came through an hour in the defeat by Liverpool and he is set to start once more, while Javier Hernandez could be recalled having been dropped at Anfield.
The Hammers are still without the suspended Arthur Masuaku, joining long-term injury absentees Pedro Obiang, Edimilson Fernandes and Andy Carroll in being unavailable but Patrice Evra could be handed his second start.
After beating them 4-1 in the penultimate match at Upton Park in May 2016, Swansea have lost each of their last three Premier League meetings with West Ham United.
West Ham are unbeaten in four top-flight league visits to the Liberty Stadium since losing their first-such match there (0-3 in August 2012), drawing three before winning 4-1 in this exact fixture last season.
Swansea City lost their last Premier League game at Brighton (1-4), but haven't lost back-to-back games in the competition since Paul Clement's final two games in charge in December.
West Ham's away games in the Premier League this season have seen 52 goals scored in total (F19 A33) - only Liverpool's (56) have seen more.
Andre Ayew has scored two goals in the last four Premier League meetings between these sides; once for Swansea in May 2016 before switching to West Ham that summer and once for West Ham in this exact fixture last season.
Will Carlos Carvalhal continue his good start to life at Swansea? He needs to as it's all getting rather tight at the bottom. Despite their good form they are back in the bottom three and it's a bit like the Crystal Palace story. Palace had that unbelievable run but look where they are now.
For Swansea, they've lost one game in six but after the defeat to Brighton they are back in the relegation zone. This is now a massive football match and a must-win game for Swansea. I'm backing them to get it.
In regards to West Ham, they've gone a little bit under the radar but we will be talking about them if, as I expect, they lost to Swansea. West Ham can't afford to lose this game. Again it's a massive game because if West Ham win then they will go six points ahead of Swansea and they will be thinking that will be getting them close to what they need to survive.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0 (6/1 with Sky Bet)
