The Swansea vs West Ham controversy that added 'spice' Nuno Espirito Santo will have hated

Swansea City and West Ham United's top-of-the-table Championship clash contained plenty of controversy on Saturday.

The Hammers beat Swansea 1-0 away from home to further cement their place in the Championship promotion race.

The intensity of the game was set from the off as one West Ham fan inexplicably disrupted a minute's silence for the Aberfan disaster.

Divine Mukasa's opener was also controversial as there were shouts for offside after Mohamadou Kante's involvement in the goal.

Vitor Matos' side thought they had the leveller in the first half when Ben Cabango's effort hit the bar and almost crossed the line, in another heated moment.

However, Nuno Espirito Santo may have been particularly unhappy with the physical battle that was on display against Swansea, which may have been enhanced immediately.

BBC pundit reacts after West Ham fan interrupts minute's silence at Swansea

West Ham travelled to the Swansea.com Stadium in search of a statement win, and that is exactly what they got.

Lawrence Vigouroux made several top saves, and without him, the hosts may have conceded many more goals to the Irons.

But the result is not the be-all and end-all for both sides, as there's still plenty of time to go in what will be a long Championship season.

That said, Nuno needs all his players to stay as fit as possible, and he won't have liked the challenges that were on display at Swansea.

While co-commentating on BBC Radio London, Jamal Fyfield pointed towards the pre-match incident as the reason for the fiery nature of the battle in Wales.

Fyfield said: "Do you know what, when you're playing in a top-of-the-league clash, one of the biggest games of the season, add that into the fact they didn't adhere to the minute's silence as well as they should have.

"It added a little bit of spice, I feel; tackles are flying all over the place. They are going through these West Ham players, letting them know they are top of the league."

Journalist for Wales Online Tom Coleman suggested that the West Ham fan may not have deliberately meant to cause the disruption during the minute's silence.

Nevertheless, it sparked "plenty of anger" in the stadium, as a feisty back-and-forth 90 minutes then followed.

Hopefully, Nuno doesn't have too many fitness issues emerge from the game.

Key statistic from Swansea vs West Ham that Nuno will love

It was the first half in particular that Nuno will have been wincing at from the sidelines, as Fyfield summarised.

However, the Hammers' first-half goal ensured that they were the ones who were not chasing the game in the second 45, which flipped the momentum of the game.

Swansea had a whopping 74 per cent of the ball in the second half, something which the Hammers have yet to face up until this point.

However, this helped take the bitterness out of the game, potentially protecting Nuno's players from injury, seen as though they were the ones without the ball anyway.

It also showed that the Irons can find different ways to win other than just pure domination on the ball.

The victory is certainly West Ham's biggest result so far this season.