Swansea boy former Hammer John Hartson approaches today’s game at the Liberty with very mixed emotions.
A lifelong Swans fan, he finds it hard to take his supporter’s hat off but when the Irons come visiting the old East End soft spot starts to show.
ClaretandHugh caught up with him a few minutes ago and here he gives his exclusive view on how today’s game may play out.
These are tough times to be a Swans fan given that we haven’t won a game since August and have fallen into the bottom three – in fact it doesn’t get much worse.
Many have said that Garry Monk was unfortunate to get the sack but I don’t agree. Initially he did very well for the club but has to take the responsibility for where we are now.
Chairman How Jenkins makes few mistakes in his appointments. Look at Martinez, Laudrup and Brendan Rodgers for whom he got £7 million from Liverpool. I believe he’ll get the next one right.
Confidence is low right now but the team will take hope from a good display at Manchester City last weekend when Gomis came on and scored.
He’s a handful and were Winston Reid at the back I’d be a lot more confident for the Hammers because I believe he’s as big a miss as Dimi Payet.
The Hammers management did a fantastic job to keep him at the club towards the end of Sam Allardyce’s time. He’s a class defender.
The Andy Carroll news is bad too and although Slaven Bilic says he could miss just the one game, you can never tell with groins because there’s no way of treating them. I’ve suffered and I know.
I hope Slaven is right and that AC returns for the Christmas programme but we’ll have to be a little cautious on that one although the return of Lanzini very soon is great news.
Today however, with the Swans fighting for their lives in the bottom three an extra edge could be on their game and that will mean the fiercest possible clash.
The team will try carrying the game to the Irons but that could be counter productive as my old team can break so quickly and effectively as they have shown away this season.
However, I think there’s a possibility the Swans may just sneak it given the Irons injury problems. No result would surprise me and I reckon the Hammers will be happy to settle for a point if that’s how it works it.
Big game, big points – I think it’s going to be a cracker.
