The Match
Chelsea have started the season in pretty damn imperious form. A scintillating performance away at Burnley saw them overcome an early scare, before an impressive (if profligate) performance at home to Leicester was followed up by the 6-3 away drubbing of Roberto Martinez's Everton. What has been blindingly obvious from the outset is that this season's Chelsea are a far cry from the "Grinding Mourinho" of old, and we can realistically expect a lot more action from games involving Chelsea this season. With eleven goals scored in three games they'll be confident of adding to their tally, and realistically that would be with good reason. Diego Costa could be fit to feature, while Schurrle, Hazard and Fabregas are all dangerous in the final third, meaning that for Chelsea anything other than a win should be considered a disappointment, irrespective of Swansea's lofty
Swansea are currently enjoying easily their best start to a Premier League season. Three wins out of three sees us sharing top spot with Chelsea (separated only by goal difference), with the opening day defeat of United at Old Trafford the standout result. That being said our best team performance so far this season was definitely last time out against West Brom, and while the international break does always threaten to derail a team's good form the Swans will definitely be confident of putting in a good showing at Stamford Bridge. With Chelsea currently so prolific in attack scoring first could well be key, so I'm expecting the Swans to fly out of the blocks. Or to attempt to, anyway.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
| Premier League | Everton | 3-6 | Chelsea |
| Premier League | Chelsea | 2-0 | Leicester |
| Premier League | Burnley | 1-3 | Chelsea |
| Friendly | Chelsea | 2-0 | Real Sociedad |
| Friendly | Ferencvaros | 1-2 | Chelsea |
| Premier League | Swansea | 3-0 | West Brom |
| League Cup | Swansea | 1-0 | Rotherham |
| Premier League | Swansea | 1-0 | Burnley |
| Premier League | Man Utd | 1-2 | Swansea |
| Friendly | Swansea | 0-3 | Villarreal |
Completely guessed lineups
Team News - Provided by injury guru @BenDinnery
For Chelsea, Barclays Player of the Month Diego Costa is hoping to be fit to face the Barclays Manager of the Month as Swansea travel to Stamford Bridge – the Spanish international is the only doubt after a scan identified a muscular problem which prompted his early departure against France last week. Jose Mourinho remains cautiously “optimistic” while the inform striker was given every chance to prove himself in a late training session on Friday – providing he suffers no adverse reaction Costa will be included with the squad along with deadline day signing Loic Remy. Eden Hazard has recovered from the minor issue which stopped him travelling with Belgium during the break.
Swansea have no fresh injury concerns with all eleven players returning from international duty unscathed although Wilfried Bony will need to be checked after he featured on Wednesday in Cameroon for the Ivory Coast. Garry Monk is hoping Leon Britton is on the road to recovery - a scan this week indicated "he will continue what he is doing for a couple of weeks then we will build him up in the third week, we're probably looking at 4/5 weeks before he comes back playing." Marvin Emnes has returned to full training & the Dutch forward is said to be “very close.”
Thanks as usual to Ben for providing us with up-to-date team news. You can follow him on Twitter @BenDinnery, and you can also find him on Talksport, ESPN & PremierInjuries.com
Swansea have no fresh injury concerns with all eleven players returning from international duty unscathed although Wilfried Bony will need to be checked after he featured on Wednesday in Cameroon for the Ivory Coast. Garry Monk is hoping Leon Britton is on the road to recovery - a scan this week indicated "he will continue what he is doing for a couple of weeks then we will build him up in the third week, we're probably looking at 4/5 weeks before he comes back playing." Marvin Emnes has returned to full training & the Dutch forward is said to be “very close.”
Thanks as usual to Ben for providing us with up-to-date team news. You can follow him on Twitter @BenDinnery, and you can also find him on Talksport, ESPN & PremierInjuries.com
Key Players
A new feature in the preview this year, I'll be using statistical radars to show two of the key attacking threats on display
This week I thought our key player would again be The Gylf, while Fabregas could be key for Chelsea. I don't know at what point using this season's statistics as opposed to last season's will become more relevant, so I've done radars for Cesc & Gylfi for both 2013/14 and 2014/15 so far. First up is 2013/14, with Cesc at Barca & Gylfi at Spurs.
Cesc Fabregas vs Gylfi Sigurdsson (2013/14)
Cesc Fabregas vs Gylfi Sigurdsson (2014/15)
Statistics & Trivia
- Only Swansea, Chelsea, Barcelona, PSV & Bayer Leverkusen have 100% records in the major European leagues after more than one match.
- Swansea have kept clean sheets in their last three matches in all competitions.
- In their last three matches in all competitions, Swansea have afforded their opponents only one shot on target in each game.
- In their last 20 away matches against teams positioned in the top half of the table, Swansea have scored 0.7 goals per game and conceded 1.9 goals per game on average.
- In their last 20 away matches against teams positioned above them in the table, Swansea have scored 0.6 goals per game and conceded 1.9 goals per game on average.
- Chelsea have won all three Premier League home matches against Swansea and are unbeaten in the last six league meetings home and away (W4, D2). Swansea have scored just three goals in those six matches.
- The Blues won both meetings with Swansea in the league last season 1-0.
- The Swans did win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup in January 2013, however, with Michu and Danny Graham on the scoresheet.
- Swansea's only league victory at Chelsea came in the very first meeting between the sides back in 1925.
- The Swans' last league win over Chelsea was a 3-0 Division One success at their old Vetch Field home in April 1981.
- This is only the second time in Premier League history that the top two sides in the table have met as early as this in the season. Then-leaders Chelsea beat second-placed Tottenham 2-0 in August 2005.
- Jose Mourinho has only lost one of the opening three league matches in his six seasons at Chelsea (W15, D2, L1).
- Chelsea have scored 11 goals in just three league games this season. Last season it took them until their eighth league game to score their 11th goal.
- Diego Costa has scored four goals in three Premier League matches; Fernando Torres took 39 games to reach this figure for Chelsea.
- Only Eden Hazard (seven) and Fernando Torres (five) got more goal assists for Chelsea in 2013-14 than Cesc Fabregas already has this season (four).
- The Swans have conceded only one goal in their four matches in all competitions this season, against Wayne Rooney for Manchester United.
- They have already claimed an incredible 21% of their entire points total from last season (nine of 42) in only three games.
- After they face Chelsea, they have a run of league fixtures against Southampton (h), Sunderland (a), Newcastle (h), Stoke (a) and Leicester (h).
- They have not kept a clean sheet away from home in the Premier League in almost a year since beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on 22 September 2013.
- Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored one and assisted four of Swansea's six league goals this season. He has assisted as many goals in three appearances this term as he did in 58 for Tottenham in the Premier League.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk doesn't really care if Jose shakes his hand or not:
“I’m probably not the only person who he hasn’t shaken hands with. It’s not a big deal for myself.
“I respect him highly, he’s a top manager, he’s a well respected person in football.
“Win, lose or draw I’ll always offer my hand.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jose-mourinho-man-respect-insists-7756413
Jose Mourinho is confident Chelsea can challenge for the title this season:
"This season we bought some key players, and we believe that they have already brought the squad and the team into another dimension.
"The words you want to hear from me are — yes we are title contenders."
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-City-face-Chelsea-Jose-Mourinho-admitting/story-22914353-detail/story.html?#ixzz3D6Z5XUZW
Analysis
Football is back! After what always seems like forever the international break is over and we can once again get down to business in the Premier League, and the task is hand is, in my opinion, easily the hardest we've had so far this season. Our opener at United was more of a cup fixture in my opinion, given the numerous uncertainties surrounding United, and when you consider how the game turned out I don't think you can compare the challenge they put up against how well Chelsea are likely to perform this weekend.
If the first three games of their season are anything to go by, we're in for a tough time of it. Scoring six last time out against Everton will mean they're confident of scoring goals, and it remains to be seen whether Diego Costa is passed fit to play. In my opinion if he's had a recurrence of a hamstring problem there's no way he should be playing again this soon, but he strikes me as the type of guy who wants to play through injuries so I wouldn't be surprised if he made the eleven. If he plays or if he doesn't the Swans' backline will have plenty to think about with Remy & Drogba capable of stepping in for the Brazilian Spaniard, while Oscar, Hazard, Fabregas et al are all players we have to watch out for.
It's absolutely crucial that, with no Leon in the side, Ki & Jonjo enjoy excellent showings. If they aren't solid in possession we'll be punished, so hopefully they'll continue to forge a partnership at the base of the Swans midfield. What I would say though is that with a clean sheet a very big ask we should definitely be looking to break quickly in order to try and score goals of our own, and with Shelvey, Sigurdsson & Ki all capable of threading a pass I'm expecting us to look dangerous on the counter-attack.
Whether Monk brings Gomis in up front is very much up for debate, with Bony having been out in Africa competing in the ACON qualifiers. There's definitely an argument for it, but I'd imagine Bony will have been assessed in training yesterday and Monk will have made his decision accordingly. Whoever starts up front I genuinely feel we have the players in the final third to hurt Chelsea, though as I mentioned I think we'll need to score multiple goals to win given the unlikelihood of keeping a clean sheet.
That's not to say I'm envisaging a Swansea win. I'm hopeful, as I believe we now have the players to do damage against any side in club football, but realistically expecting anything from an away fixture at Chelsea, especially a Chelsea in such good form, is optimistic at best. I think the key area for the Swans will be how Sigurdsson & whoever starts up front get on against Matic at the base of the Chelsea midfield. If we can evade Chelsea's defensive midfielder we can get a result, but if he can stifle the game (as he's very capable of doing) Chelsea could control things throughout.
As for a prediction...my prediction is goals. I want to say a Swans win but I know that's just the biased fan in me talking, so I suppose the best I can legitimately hope for when all the facts are on the table is a score draw. Score early, and who knows.