Five-a-side

Five-a-side

 

whufc.com selects a five-a-side team from players who have represented both West Ham United and Saturday's visitors Swansea City...

 

1. Noel Dwyer

Noel Dwyer
Dublin-born goalkeeper Noel Dwyer was one of a host of Republic of Ireland internationals who pulled on a West Ham United kit during the post-war period.

Dwyer initially moved across the Irish Sea to Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining the newly-promoted Hammers in December 1950.

He would play ten First Division games that season, replacing the legendary Ernie Gregory, and 26 more the next, before being sold to Swansea Town in February 1960.

There, he won the Welsh Cup in 1961 and saved a famous penalty in the Swans’ FA Cup sixth-round win over Liverpool in 1964. In all, Dwyer made 140 league appearances for the South Wales club.

 

2. Andy Melville

Andy Melville

A Wales international centre-half, only ten players have turned out more times for the Dragons than Andy Melville.

The Swansea-born defender’s 65th and final Wales cap came on 4 April 2004 against Azerbaijan – just a few weeks before he joined West Ham United from Fulham.

Nearly two decades earlier, Melville had started his career at Vetch Field as a teenager, making 213 appearances for Swansea City, scoring 29 goals.

After spells with Oxford United, Sunderland, Bradford City and Fulham, Melville was part of the Hammers squad which won promotion via the Championship Play-Offs in 2005.

 

3. Frank Lampard

The younger Frank Lampard famously made his senior debut for Swansea City during a loan spell in South Wales in October 1995.

Then just 17, Lampard made nine Second Division appearances for the Swans, debuting in a 2-0 victory over Bradford City at Vetch Field.

He also bagged his maiden senior goal against Brighton & Hove Albion during the same loan spell.

The midfielder returned to east London, where he made his West Ham United debut against Coventry City on 31 January 1996 – the tenth of 913 senior club appearances.

 

4. Andre Ayew

Andre Ayew
West Ham United’s Ghana international forward Andre Ayew spent the 2015/16 season with Swansea City in the Premier League, having previously spent the entirety of his professional career with French club Marseille, aside from loan spells with Lorient and Arles-Avignon.

The France-born winger played 35 times in the Swans’ white, scoring 12 Premier League goals to lead their scoring charts last term.

The son of Ghana legend Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew, the 27-year-old scored against West Ham for Swansea at the Boleyn Ground in May 2016, before repeating the trick for the Hammers against the Swans at Liberty Stadium on Boxing Day!

To add further to the story, Ayew's younger brother Jordan followed in his footsteps by joining Swansea from Aston Villa in January 2017!

 

5. Frank Nouble

Frank Nouble

Still just 25, Frank Nouble is a much-travelled striker who began his career as a youth-team player with Chelsea between 2004-09.

Tall, strong and quick, Nouble moved to West Ham United in 2009, making his debut in the 2-0 Premier League win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day of the season.

In January 2010, he made his maiden start, giving James Collins a hard time in a goalless draw at Aston Villa.

Nouble then embarked on a succession of loan spells, including one which saw him reunited with his former Chelsea youth-team manager Brendan Rodgers at Swansea City.

There, he scored his first senior goal in a 3-2 Championship win over Watford with his first touch on 28 September 2010.

After spells with a number of other Football League clubs, and two in China, Nouble joined current club Southend United in January 2017, where he is part of a squad that includes former Hammers Anton Ferdinand and Zavon Hines.