All the essential info ahead of Saturday's match
The background
West Ham United will step out at the Boleyn Ground for the penultimate time on Saturday when they welcome Swansea City to east London.With just the visits of the Swans and Manchester United to come, the Hammers will be keen to end 112 years of history in E13 on a high – particularly as the dream of UEFA Champions League football is still in sight.
West Ham sit five points behind fourth place Manchester City with a game in hand and will want to up the pressure on the Citizens ahead of their Sunday meeting with Arsenal by doing their bit against the Swans.
Slaven Bilic’s men are ten league matches unbeaten and have won back-to-back games having seen off Watford and West Bromwich Albion in recent weeks – and scoring three goals in each game to boot.
Swansea secured a terrific 3-1 win against Liverpool last time out, but have otherwise struggled recently, suffering heavy defeats against Newcastle United and Barclays Premier League champions Leicester City in their previous two games.
They are now mathematically safe, with 43 points from 36 games and currently sit 13th in the table.
The history
The last four years have seen the first regular meetings between West Ham and Swansea since the early 1980s.Since the Welsh club were promoted to the Premier League in 2011, West Ham have bossed the head-to-head, winning three, drawing three and losing just once in the seven matches.
Overall, West Ham have defeated the Swans 26 times in 58 encounters, losing 17 and drawing the other 15.
In the last meeting earlier this season, the teams battled out a 0-0 draw at the Liberty Stadium a week before Christmas.
The match
Team news
West Ham United
The Hammers will be without Adrian for the visit of Swansea, after the Hammers keeper suffered a calf injury in last weekend’s win at West Brom.Darren Randolph will deputise and will hope to extend his record of two clean sheets in three league games for the Hammers.
Swansea City
Swans skipper and centre back Ashley Williams is set to be rested for his club’s final two league games ahead of Wales’ involvement in Euro 2016.Neil Taylor, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jefferson Montero and Alberto Paloschi are out injured, but Leroy Fer returns after a hamstring problem.
Match info
- Saturday’s referee is Michael Oliver. Among the 32 games he has taken charge of this term is just one Hammers match – the 2-1 victory against Southampton in December. He will be assisted by Gary Beswick and Matthew Wilkes. The fourth official is Jonathan Moss.
- The Hammers are on a 10-match unbeaten league run (W5, D5).
- They have only lost two home league games this season and are unbeaten in 15 since August (W8, D7).
- West Ham have scored 18 goals in their last seven league matches.
- Mark Noble has scored seven goals this season, two more than in his previous two seasons combined.
- Swansea are without a win in four away games, conceding 12 goals during that run (D1, L3).
- They scored three goals in a match for the first time this season against Liverpool last weekend.
- Only Newcastle (two) and Aston Villa (one) have won fewer away league games than Swansea's three this season.
Ticketing, travel, coverage and other info
- Tickets for this game have SOLD OUT.
- The District and Hammersmith & City lines are set to serve Upton Park as normal on Saturday. However, supporters who use TfL Rail services should note there are no trains running between Shenfield and Ilford. Replacement buses will run. Click here for the latest news on the roads and here for the trains.
- Saturday is set to be a warm day, with the sun expected to shine through by the afternoon. Temperatures are set to reach 22C (72F).
- If you can’t make it to the match, make sure you follow all the action on our digital channels. The whufc.com Match Centre will have live audio commentary, social media updates, in-running stats, video and more, while you can get involved in the conversation on social using the hashtag #WHUSWA