Premier League: Swansea 3 West Brom 0

Swansea City finally opened their Premier League account with a highly impressive 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.

Goals to Scott Sinclair, Leroy Lita and Nathan Dyer gave Swansea maximum points but their joy was dented somewhat after what looked like a serious injury to Neil Taylor in the second half.

Having failed a late fitness test, Swansea’s record signing Danny Graham was left out and replaced by Lita, who earned his first start in the Premier League for the Welsh side.

Meanwhile, Craig Dawson made his full Premier League debut for West Brom in the centre of defence in place of the suspended Gabriel Tamas.

Swansea garnered the first real opportunity of the game in the sixth minute as Sinclair latched onto a cross from left-back Taylor, but he shot wide after hesitating on the ball for a split second.

They had another chance just a couple of minutes later after a good spell of possession, but Joe Allen could only shoot straight at Baggies’ goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Swansea found themselves with a glorious chance to open the scoring in the 13th minute as West Brom’s Paul Scharner brought down Allen in the penalty area. Referee Martin Atkinson gave the spot-kick, and Sinclair stepped up coolly to convert from 12 yards to give the Swans an early lead and their first Premier League goal.

It was a deserved lead for Swansea after their bright start to the game, but after struggling to create any clear openings, West Brom found themselves almost gifted an equaliser in the 22nd minute. Taylor played a poor back pass to goalkeeper Michel Vorm that was intercepted by Shane Long, but he inexplicably shot over the crossbar when he should have scored.

In the 24th minute Swansea doubled their lead, as Sinclair found some space from a Mark Gower corner and headed the ball back towards the far post, where Lita headed the ball past Foster.

Lita was delighted to score his first goal for Swansea City after his summer transfer and was booked for excessive celebrating.

Swansea continued to attack after the break, as Lita knocked the ball into the path of Nathan Dyer, who sprinted into the penalty area and played the ball through the legs of Foster to make it 3-0 to the home side in only the 48th minute.

The Baggies appeared to be undeterred, however, but any threats they had were dealt with easily by a confident Swansea defence.

Chris Brunt had a chance for West Brom’s first goal ruled off-side, and Graham Dorrans forced an acrobatic save from Vorm in the 64th minute.

Largely anonymous throughout, Peter Odemwingie blotted his copybook with a late tackle on Taylor for which he was cautioned by the referee.

Taylor was stretchered off and was given oxygen at the side of the pitch in what looked like a worrying blow to Swansea’s already depleted defence.

From then on, Swansea had few difficulties in dealing with any West Brom pressure, and after nine minutes of stoppage time, the Swans were able to make the game safe and come away with their first win of the season.