How did West Brom limit space for Swansea’ attacking threat?

West Brom won their first home league game of the calendar year and their first since Boxing Day as caretaker manager James Shan took over first-team duties following the surprise sacking of Darren Moore.

Swansea City, meanwhile, have now lost six of their last eight games, five of them away from home. Like they did at the Liberty Stadium on November 28th, West Brom were able to take full advantage of their set plays, scoring their first direct from a wide free-kick and two from corners.

As well as their vulnerability at the back, Swansea City were also guilty of lacking a clinical finisher in front of goal. They wasted four big chances, one of which was a penalty kick that former Manchester City midfielder Bersant Celina will quickly want to forget about.

In this EFL Championship tactical analysis, well look in detail at the key tactical battles during the match, how both sides approached the game and where it was essentially won and lost.

Teams and setups

James Shan made four changes to the side that drew 1-1 at home to Ipswich Town, bringing Mason Holgate, Ahmed Hegazi, Chris Brunt and Rekeem Harper into the starting XI.

Oli McBurnies continued absence due to fever meant that Swansea City boss Graham Potter kept the same side that lost 1-0 at Norwich City last Friday, with Dan James playing through the middle in a false nine role to begin with.

West Brom adopted a rather defensive approach, sitting back in two solid lines of four, and sometimes five, as they focused on limiting the space for Swanseas attacking quartet of Routledge, Dyer, Celina and James. Winning turnovers, they looked to make the most of regaining possession in their own half and exposing Swanseas attacking commitment of their full-backs.

It proved to be effective as their opening goal came from a free-kick won after a turnover and quick release of a player in behind Swnaseas left-back.

The game also saw a contrast of passing styles between the two teams. Swansea City were patient with their build-up play from deep while West Brom were happy to aim long passes from inside their own half as the following images show.

You can also see the differences between both sides passing game in their pass maps below. The size of each player circle represents the total number of attempted passes with the colour representing the pass success rate (on a red-amber-green scale). Each player also has three passing lines demonstrating the areas where they played most passes to.