Tactically speaking - Swansea City

West Ham United have paired up with football stats website WhoScored.com to preview Sunday's Premier League meeting with Swansea City.

The Hammers' midweek 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion maintained the two-point cushion between themselves and Swansea in the Premier League and with West Ham's recent home form, they will be confident of opening the gap to five this weekend. Sam Allardyce's side are unbeaten in their last five home league games, winning four, and have won both of their home Premier League meetings with Swansea in the past two seasons.

West Ham have scored three without reply in that run and against a Swans outfit that has netted only two goals in their last four away games, the hosts have enough about them to continue their impressive form. The South Wales side also boasts one of the worst away records in England's top tier this term, winning only five points from a possible 18 on the road, which bodes well for the east London team.

One player set to play a crucial role in the welcome of the Swans is centre-back James Tomkins. The Englishman bagged the winner in Tuesday's victory at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night and should keep his place alongside Winston Reid at the heart of the defence. Tomkins featured in the last two league meetings between the two sides at the Boleyn Ground, so knows what to expect from them.

Tomkins will be out to maintain his impressive form in Sunday's encounter. No West Ham player has a better WhoScored.com Premier League rating than Tomkins (7.48), with his performance against West Brom aiding that. Tomkins' rating against the Baggies (9.63) was the best by any centre-back in England's top tier this season and earned him a place in WhoScored.com's recent Premier League team of the week.

Taking into account over 200 live in-play statistics, WhoScored.com calculates a unique rating out of ten to measure each player's performance in a match. In gameweek 14, Tomkins attained a better rating than every other Premier League player and, from both an attacking and defensive viewpoint, was extremely impressive.

A WhoScored.com strength of Tomkins' is 'aerial duels', which happens to be a weakness of Swansea's. Should West Ham win set-pieces in attacking positions, the centre-back has the capability to put pressure on the Swans' goal. Provided he is picked out, Tomkins could make it 2 goals in 2 league appearances for the Hammers this weekend.

Following a fine display in midweek, Tomkins' confidence is likely to be sky high. Against a Swansea side on a poor run of form away from home, the West Ham defender is capable of turning out another imperious performance on Sunday, in turn helping the Hammers to their third consecutive clean sheet and victory in the league at home to Swansea.

*WhoScored.com is a website and one of the fastest growing in the sports industry, specialising in the in-depth analysis of detailed football data. Follow @WhoScored on Twitter.

Swansea City

Fabianski

Rangel  Bartley  Williams  Richards

Sung-yueng  Shelvey

Routledge  Sigurdsson  Montero

Bony

The formation

There may well be another certainty in life to go alongside death and taxes - Swansea City using a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Garry Monk has sent his side out using that system in every one of the Swans' opening 14 Barclays Premier League matches this season.

As you would expect from such a shape, Swansea seek to control possession in the middle of the pitch with short, sharp passes and non-stop movement between the five midfielders.

Perhaps more than most teams, Swansea rely on the relationship between their full-backs and wingers, with Angel Rangel and Neil Taylor often seen beyond their respective wide midfielders. However, Taylor is suspended for Sunday's game and could be replaced by Jazz Richards.

The playing style

Swansea's possession-based approach has been in place for a long time, with the club arguably becoming as synonymous with the beautiful game as Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.

As they have done for many seasons now, the Jacks look probe patiently for openings before using a through ball to get in behind the opposition defence. When they do so, Swansea's speedy wide men and centre forward Wilfried Bony are often on the end of them.

Every player in the Swansea team has a role, whether it be the two full-backs bombing forward in support of their wingers, Jonjo Shelvey enforcing things from a defensive midfield role, Ki Sung-yueng knitting things together with his neat passing or Icelandic attacking midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson teeing-up chances for his colleagues, or Bony putting those opportunities away with his head or feet.

One aspect of Swansea's play that has perhaps changed a little from the Roberto Martinez and Michael Laudrup days is that the men from South Wales have become a little more streetwise.

While their possession (55.6% to 50.4%), pass-completion (84.8% to 84.2%) and shots per game (13 to ten) have dropped from previous seasons, Monk's Swansea are defensively more resilient than they have been in the past. The visitors conceded 54 goals in 38 games last season, but this term they have let in just 14 in their opening 14 matches.

While the likes of defensive rock Ashley Williams and shield Shelvey have given Swansea more solidity, the outstanding form of Bony has meant Swansea continue to carry a huge threat going forward.

The players

Few teams in the Barclays Premier League have been more settled than Swansea this season, with five players starting and two more playing some part in all 14 matches.

It is at the back that Swansea have looked more solid than in previous seasons, and that should come as no surprise when you learn that goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, left-back Taylor, captain. Williams and deep-lying midfielder Sung-yueng have missed just 42 minutes of league action between them this term.

Right-back Angel Rangel has missed just one match through suspension, too, meaning manager Monk has had few selection headaches to deal with. However, Taylor's suspension may see Scottish youngster Stephen Kingsley handed his Swansea debut, but Jazz Richards is more likely to be given the start.

The other defensive position Monk has had issues with is Williams' centre-half partner, with Argentina FIFA World Cup player Federico Fernandez struggling with a calf problem in recent weeks. His place has been taken by the former Arsenal youngster Kyle Bartley, who has performed impressively in the South American's absence.

Alongside the physical Shelvey, South Korean Sung-yueng is heavily involved in every move, collecting the ball from the back four and prompting with his incisive, accurate passing (91.2% completion).

Further forward, Monk has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal in midfield areas, bar the possible absence of groin injury victim Nathan Dyer.

Assist-king Sigurdsson will play in the central attacking midfield role, with Wayne Routledge and Ecuador international Jefferson Montero on the wings.

Up front, Bony is integral to Swansea's attacking play. Tall, strong and technically proficient, the Ivorian is a complete centre forward who has netted more Premier League goals in 2014 than any other player.

Most effective with his back to goal, Bony can bring his teammates into play with clever flicks or lay-offs, while he is a deceptively clever and elusive mover off the ball.