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CHELSEA v Swansea: Preview


Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Saturday, 13 September
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT

Thank the good Lord this afternoon sees us back to the normality of the Premier League again and for us, it’s a top of the table clash at home to Swansea. Ok, so realistically we’ve only played three games apiece so far but there’s still a respective 100% record each at stake.
Our visitors have had a good start to the season under Garry Monk, including a win against Manchester United. We haven’t exactly struggled for our 9 points so far either, with new signings Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa making a significant difference in our ability to find the back of the net this season. With his hamstring still niggling and a midweek game against Schalke in the Champions League, only Jose knows if Costa will be risked against Swansea today – either way, I’m sure we can trust his judgement.

MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, a very complimentary Jose Mourinho says “Swansea have a good team. They had a good team (last year)…. they’ve had a good team for a couple of years, since they were promoted in the Premier League. They’ve always represented themselves in the Premier League with a good team, playing good football for a while. They have good players and I don’t think they’ve lost any good players. If they lost any, they weren’t important players. They bought, bought well, and invested seriously buying quality players. They did well to keep their good players and bring others in to improve them. They are doing very well and Monk to win the manager of the month is deserved.
They had a surprise result in the opening game of the season at Old Trafford and after that they did what they had to do, winning two home matches against teams with the same kind of ambition. They did well. They had one result which was unexpected for almost all of us, but they have nine points, they are top of the league – respect.”

Swansea manager Garry Monk meanwhile, says of his opposition manager “I’m probably not the only one who Mourinho hasn’t shaken hands with after the game so it’s no big deal. I respect him highly, he’s a top manager, a very respected person within football and I’ll always offer my hand. He’s won titles on a world level, the highest level. He’s in that bracket of the very elite, where they are winning things on a regular basis.”
Whilst on Chelsea, the Swansea boss says “They’re one of the powerhouses of the league this season. They’ve got quality all over the pitch and there’s a lot more strengths than weaknesses. They’ll be favourites for the title this season and they’ll be a good test for us. We have to give our best performance in order to warrant winning any points.”

SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Diego Costa faces a late fitness test with his hamstring still bothering him. New signing Loic Remy probably won’t have his fingers crossed the test goes ok, although with our Champions League game midweek, Mourinho might decide to play it safe anyway. Eden Hazard is expected to shrug off a minor Achilles problem.
For Swansea, Leon Britton (knee) misses out, whilst Wilfried Bony needs a late check after his game for the Ivory Coast against Cameroon on Wednesday. Bafetimbi Gomis will stand wait for the outcome to see if he’s getting a game. Marvin Emnes could be involved for the first time this season following his hamstring injury.

TEAMS
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilcueta; Matic, Fabregas, Schurrle; Willian, Remy, Hazard
SWANSEA (Possible line-up): Fabianski, Rangel, Amat, Williams, Taylor, Ki, Shelvey, Dyer, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Bony

LAST SEASON
Chelsea 1-0 Swansea (26 December 2013)

OTHER STUFF
◦ Chelsea have won all 3 Premier League home games against Swansea.
◦ Chelsea are unbeaten in the last six league meetings home and away (W4, D2).
◦ Chelsea won both meetings with Swansea in the league last season 1-0.
◦ Jose Mourinho has only lost 1 of the opening 3 games in his 6 seasons at Chelsea.
◦ Swansea won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup in January 2013.
◦ Swansea’s only league victory at Chelsea came in our first meeting in 1925.
◦ Swansea’s last league win over Chelsea was in Division One in April 1981 (3-0).
◦ Swansea have conceded only 1 goal in their 4 games in all competitions this season.

PREDICTION
There’s 100% records so far at risk today for both sides. We’ve just had the international break and we face Schalke Tuesday. I don’t want to be a doom and gloom merchant – so I’ll leave the prediction there……

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