Chelsea v Swansea City match preview, statistics, team news, analysis & more

      Chelsea  vs Swansea City
      Barclays Premier League

Sunday 28/04/13

15:00pm K.O.

Stamford Bridge

  Referee: Mark Clattenburg

The Match

Chelsea are looking to bite back (ha!) after being stunned by Luis Suarez's late, late equaliser at Anfield last weekend. Remarkably, of Chelsea's last eleven games only five have been in the Premier League, and they'll be looking to build some momentum for the final run-in as the race for the Champions League spots heats up. With Chelsea nestled snugly between Arsenal and Spurs the North London trio look set to battle it out until the seasons end, with just two points currently separating the three clubs in third, fourth and fifth (although Arsenal, a point ahead of Chelsea, have played a game more). They come into the match fresh(ish) after facing Basel away on Thursday night, a game they won 2-1 thanks to David Luiz's last gasp freekick.

Swansea are looking to pull off a repeat of their last trip to Stamford Bridge, where they triumphed 2-0 in the Capital One Cup thanks to goals from Michu and the now departed Danny Graham. While the recent run of fixtures includes some top teams, the points return hasn't been that good of late and a win here would massively boost a side without a league win in their last five games. With Man City up next, Laudrup will be hoping the Swans can spring a surprise in at least one of these next two matches.

Prior Form (most recent at top)

Europa League                 Basel                1 - 2  Chelsea
Premier League                Liverpool           2 - 2  Chelsea
Premier League                Fulham             0 - 3  Chelsea        

FA Cup                              Chelsea           1 - 2  Man City
Europa League                 Rubin Kazan      3 - 2  Chelsea

Premier League                Swansea       0 - 0   Southampton
Premier League                Norwich          2 - 2  Swansea
Premier League                Swansea       1 - 2  Tottenham
Premier League                Swansea       0 - 2   Arsenal        

Premier League                West Brom     2 - 1  Swansea

Team News

Chelsea have a more or less fully fit squad, although they have been rotating heavily due to the amount of games they've had to play of late. Oriel Romeu is out with a knee injury, while Marko Marin is short of match fitness, but may make the bench.

Swansea have Neil Taylor pushing hard for selection, but it's possibly he'll still only make the bench. Other than this Laudrup's squad again continues to enjoy a clean bill of health.

Trivia - "Courtesy" of Opta, the BBC and various other sites;

• Swansea are unbeaten in four games (in all competitions) against Chelsea

• Chelsea have scored more headers (15) than any other team this year. 

• Of the 17 games Chelsea have been leading in at half time this season, they have only lost one (West Ham), winning 12.

• Juan Mata has more PL assists than any other player (12).

• Frank Lampard needs just two goals to equal Chelsea's all-time record, and in scoring against the Swans would also equal Andy Cole's record of having scored against 38 different teams in the Premier League.

• £50million man Fernando Torres will, unless he scores in the first three minutes, have gone 1000 minutes without scoring in the Premier League.
• Throughout the season Swansea have only used players of eight different nationalities - fewer than any other team.
• Swansea are one of four sides not to have scored a penalty this season.
• The Swans average 0.94 goals per game away from home, and Chelsea average  2.19 goals at home.
• While the Swans have kept clean sheets in almost a third of their away matches, on their travels they're without a clean sheet in four and haven't won in six.
• Petr Cech needs one more clean sheet to take third place in the outright list of Premier League clean sheets. Currently level with David Seaman on 140.
• Petr Cech has the best clean sheet ratio (0.49) of any goalkeeper in Premier League history (140 in 287 apps).
• Swansea have not won a league match at Chelsea since the very first meeting of the two teams back in November 1925 when they produced a 4-1 victory
• Ki Sung-yeung has had more shots without scoring (34) than any other player in the top flight this season

Completely guessed lineups

Straight from the "horse's mouth";

When asked whether the win over Basel would prove beneficial ahead of the game with Swansea, Rafael Benitez seemed to agree:

“I hope this is a boost. We’re working so hard, so if you can win these kind of games the mood is much better. 

“That [Swansea] will be a different competition, but we have to take the positives and try to keep the momentum.”

Michael Laudrup has clearly been looking to address the defence over the last week or two:

“I said that to the team before the Southampton game that we had conceded two goals in each of the last four games, even at home, and we should have the mentality to keep a clean sheet.”  

“We always create chances, but if we have a bad day in front of goal and we defend well it is 0-0...but if we concede one or two goals we will need two or three to win and that is too much to ask.

"That’s what’s happened in the previous four games, so to get a clean sheet was a big positive, and it is good timing because when we play big games everyone will be focused on the defence because you know if you do not defend well at teams like Chelsea or Manchester United then they will score three or four.”

“We did it before, so we know we can do it. But it will be difficult as Chelsea still have a lot to play for, but we have to get the points we need to finish in the top 10,”

Analysis

I watched the Chelsea game on Thursday night, and while the nature of the performance wasn't hugely impressive throughout they are developing the knack of winning even when they don't play well. They've easily got one of the strongest squads in the league, and with few games remaining fatigue is likely to be sidelined by adrenaline as they look to cement their place in the top four.

Up top I think Benitez may well go with Demba Ba. While I'm still more of a Torres fan than most, 1000 minutes without a goal isn't the kind of form you want your lead striker to have enjoyed going into an important league match. Ba scored a peach of a goals a few weeks ago and can feel hard done by to have had limited involvement since, so he'll have a point to prove if he comes into the side tomorrow.

I heard a scary stat the other day about Juan Mata. So far this season, he's played 60 games, scored 18 goals and managed 32 assists. That's a serious set of numbers, and it seems the media have, until recently, preferred to sensationalise the exploits of his midfield cohorts Eden Hazard and Oscar - possibly because they go about their business a bit more flashily. Without a doubt Mata is the player in the midfield to watch, and it's times like this it seems a shame the Swans haven't got a 6'2" version of Leon who likes putting himself about a bit...maybe next season eh.

The Swans lineup I've gone for (above) is, to be honest, more the lineup I hope Laudrup goes with. Of late I've really come to like the idea that against top teams we should play three dedicated central midfielders, whereas against "lesser" teams we can employ the 'three wingers' formation. Against a team of Chelsea's calibre, controlling the midfield is so, so important, and I feel with Michu at attacking midfield we just don't do it. To bolster my point somewhat, a quick look at the match report from the Carling Cup game tells me that the lineup then was actually exactly the same as the one I've gone with here.

Last time we played Chelsea at the Bridge, it has to be said that Branislav Ivanovic played a large part in sending the Swans through; his two individual errors allowing Michu to punish the Londoners (albeit courtesy of some superb finishing). With that in mind, and with Gary Cahill returning to fitness, it's debatable whether we'll see the Serbian tomorrow. Either way, with Terry, Luiz and Cahill all feasible options it's unlikely to affect the quality of the Chelsea back-line too much. While Michu is hardly electric off the line, his finishing is superb and if he plays on the shoulder of the defence he's always going to get a chance or two - and statistically if he gets two he's probably going to put one away.

I really hope Wayne Routledge starts - I think he's been our stand-out winger of late and a start against Chelsea would give him a timely boost as the Swans look to finish as high up the table as possible. Routledge works as hard as anyone to retrieve possession, and with the Chelsea midfield possibly including both Jon Obi Mikel and Ramires it's likely time on the ball will be at a premium - it could well end up a fairly scrappy affair in the middle as the two sets of midfielders battle for possession.

Ki & Leon will have to be on top of their game from the off if they are to stop Chelsea's expensively assembled attack marauding past them, and it's vitally important this doesn't happen early on. With Ba, Oscar, Hazard and Mata all trying to get past your defence you don't want to give them, or the crowd, any encouragement whatsoever - the plan for the first ten minutes should be to get and retain possession, at all costs.

Given the Swans tendency to lose or draw once behind, and Chelsea's tendency to win most of the games in which they're winning at half time, it seems crucial for the Swans to score first, and I don't see a lot of goals in this game. I officially retired from predictions last week after yet another shockingly Lawrenson-esque effort, but it seems silly not to at least have a punt, so instead of predicting a score I'll simply say I think this will end up a low-scoring draw. Come on the Swans!

Iechyd Da.