Andy Carroll has West Ham dreaming of Europe after towering display

It's obviously tongue-in-cheek and sounds ludicrous ... until you actually look at the table. We're close to mid-December and there West Ham are, back in the top four, and temporarily in third. They will drop down to fourth once Southampton and Manchester United face each other on Monday, because the points mean one of them will have to leapfrog West Ham, but the wonder is when -- or if -- Sam Allardyce's side will drop far down the table in general.

While it's obviously still fanciful to consider them genuine contenders for a Champions League place, and the feeling is the league table will level out, they should not be dismissed. That would be all too dangerous. They offer danger through so many routes.

While the early part of this season's surge was down to the exhilarating pace down the wings of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho -- who also got back on the score sheet -- this saw a return to the aerial power of Carroll. Last season, West Ham were too dependent on an unfit Carroll and they didn't have the craft to open teams up.

Here, despite going behind through Wilfried Bony's early goal, they battered Swansea City down through Carroll and just kept on going. Such attacking waves brought Fabianski's foul that saw him sent off, even if it was unfair.

The manner in which Sakho's brilliant late goal was totally fair, though, and it brought the performance to peak. The wonder is whether West Ham have peaked. They are, at least, currently soaring -- even if it is not necessarily all the way to Barcelona.

Carroll a fearsome prospect on his day

It was a day when it was impossible to sniff at Carroll, or West Ham's style. Instead, you could only praise it to the heavens, which was often where he threatened to jump. Swansea certainly looked in awe of him.

Carroll has taken his West Ham tally against the Welsh side to three goals and two assists in just three games. It's quite the return, and doesn't feel coincidental. As a team who play so much of their football on the floor, Swansea aren't so accomplished in the air, and it told. It was a clear tactic.

It also points to a broader truth about Carroll. While playing him pretty much involves sacrificing your entire game towards him, the problem for the opposition is that it's still impossible to deal with if he's at his imposing best.

That's certainly what he was, and it feels quite a while since he's been in such fitness and form. Take both of his goals -- they were not just route-one cross-and-headers, they were outrageously good finishes which he shouldn't really have had a right to take.

Both involved exceptional technique, precision and power, which is difficult to marry in such circumstances but Carroll made it look easy.

For the first goal, the equaliser, he seemed to almost wrap his head around Carl Jenkinson's cross to launch it into the far corner of the net. For the second, and clincher, he got unusual power from almost a standing position for a set-piece. It was a master-class in heading and aerial play.

The brilliance of Bony

For all Carroll demanded attention, however, it would be wrong not to offer some focus on the brilliant Bony. Sure, had his second half shot which hit the bar been a few inches more precise, then this might have been a very different game. It was all he did wrong.

Bony looked as formidable as usual; his opening goal so clean and clinical. That mix of physicality and finesse is perfect for when Swansea play on the counter, and you couldn't exactly say they got their game plan wrong here.

They just got undone by Carroll's physicality, but there are times when the same description could be used of Bony. He attracted the admiring attention of Jose Mourinho back in August and even if Chelsea eventually went for Loic Remy, it's surely only a matter of time until another Champions League club takes a proper look.

Bony would suit so many, even if this match didn't end up suiting him.