'A band of brothers'

Carlos Carvalhal paid tribute to Swansea City’s band of brothers after their thumping victory over West Ham.

The Swans produced a supreme performance to swat aside the Hammers and climb up to 13th in the Premier League table.

And afterwards Carvalhal was keen to pay tribute to every single one of his players.

“When you win 4-1, I don’t think it is about one player,” said the Swans boss.

“I think it’s fair on a day like this to talk about the collective. We have two brothers in our team, but it looked like we played with 11 brothers today.

“There were 11 players on the pitch and another three who came on. There were others in the squad and even those who are injured – Wilfried Bony, Leroy Fer and Angel Rangel – who I saw today.

“We have a good commitment here – a good family. The players are like brothers and we felt all together today.”

Andre Ayew was one of the Swans’ star performers against his former club, while fellow January recruit Andy King was also impressive.

And Carvalhal reckoned the two new boys have benefited from spending time training with their new club.

“When they came to use they had not played a lot of football so it was difficult to put them straight into the team,” he added.

“The way we play and what we want to do is something their bodies must get used to.

“Maybe now, after three or four weeks, we felt they were completely ready and they showed that with the way they played.

“But we understand they have not played for a long time and that’s why we brought them off, to protect them from any injuries.”