Since defeat to Derby County in his first game in charge, Vitor Matos has lost only three of 20 home league fixtures as Swansea City's head coach.

It is an admirable record, particularly when you consider that he took over a Swansea side who were sitting 20th in the table.

Coming up to 11 months on, Matos' Swansea are top of the Championship despite being beaten at home by West Ham United on Saturday.

There was no shame in the loss. Swansea pushed the side who are widely regarded as favourites for the second-tier title close.

Matos' team had more than 68% of possession, while their xG was only marginally inferior to West Ham's even though Lawrence Vigouroux made some big second-half saves.

The fact is that if one of Swansea's big chances had fallen to a striker rather than a centre-back, they may well have emerged from the game with something.

Instead Matos' players were left licking wounds after a first home league defeat of the season.

West Ham became the first visiting victors in a league match at the Swansea.com Stadium since Southampton, whose somewhat fortuitous 2-1 win in April extended their unbeaten run at that stage to 16 matches.

Before that it was a Coventry City side destined for the Premier League who strolled to a seventh win in eight games, with Matt Grimes among their goalscorers in March.

That loss ended Swansea's run of 10 home league matches without defeat which stretched all the way back to the Derby fixture, a game that took place barely 24 hours after Matos had been appointed.

Since losing to the Rams – who were another side in fine form at that point, it should be said – Swansea's only Championship defeats on their own patch have come against promotion contenders.

The challenge for Matos' players after the West Ham setback is to ensure that remains the case for the rest of this campaign.

Should they manage that, Swansea may well be promotion contenders themselves come the end of the season.