please log in to view this image ............................................... please log in to view this image Chelsea................................... vs ...................... Swansea City Stamford Bridge London Sat 24-9-11 3:00 PM KO IMPORTANT TRAVEL INFO For travel info/info on the stadium click HERE For links to watch the game online, click HERE Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Chelsea and Swansea. Once again the two teams on display hail from opposite ends of the footballing spectrum, but the two clubs aren't without connections. Those with longer memories than mine may remember more, but off the top of my head John Hollins, Roger Freestone, Frank Lampard, Brendan Rodgers, Scott Sinclair, Fabio Borini and the recently departed Yves Ma-Kalambay have all had associations with both clubs, so despite the Swans lowly status over the last 20 years or so, there has been a little contact between the two. The Match; Chelsea come into the game on the back of a League Cup triumph over Fulham only penalties after a 0-0 draw, and a 3-1 defeat to Man Utd, where the talking point remains Fernando Torres' sitter. I think it's been harsh on Torres, as, at that speed, running away from goal, on your weaker foot, it's actually a much harder finish than people are allowing for. On top of that, he'd only got into that position by using great technique, so most players wouldn't have even been there in the first place! Swansea travel to London fresh off the back of scoring for the first time in their Premier League history. A 3-0 home win over West Brom has done much to abate the jitters of a percentage of Swans fans, and should give the squad confidence ahead of what will, realistically, be a much sterner examination. Prior Form; (most recent at top) Chelsea 0 - 0 Fulham League Cup (Pens 4-3) Manchester United 3 - 1 Chelsea Premier League Chelsea 2 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen Champions League Sunderland 1 - 2 Chelsea Premier League Chelsea 3 - 1 Norwich Premier League Chelsea 2 - 1 West Brom Premier League Stoke 0 - 0 Chelsea Premier League Swansea City 3 -0 West Brom Premier League Arsenal 1 - 0 Swansea City Premier League Swansea City 0 - 0 Sunderland AFC Premier League Shrewsbury Town 3 – 1 Swansea City League Cup Swansea City 0 – 0 Wigan Athletic Premier League Manchester City 4 – 0 Swansea City Premier League Team News; Swansea will be without Kemy Augustien and Steven Caulker as they miss out with, respectively, a hamstring injury and a knee ligament injury. Craig Beattie misses out with an ankle strain while Alan Tate and Ferrie Bodde are long term absentees. Danny Graham and Neil Taylor will most likely face fitness tests before the game. Chelsea are only missing Michael Essien through injury. Petr Cech and Daniel Sturridge picked up knocks in the Fulham game and may yet be unavailable for the weekend's fixture. Trivia; Completely guessed lineups; Chelsea - (courtesy of bluemoon2) Cech Bosingwa Luiz Terry Cole Ramires Mikel Mata Sturridge Torres Anelka Swansea Vorm Rangel Taylor Williams Monk Britton Gower Allen Sinclair Dyer Lita Key Battles; Chelsea's wide boys vs Rangel & Taylor On paper, Swansea shouldn't even bother turning up for this game as the options Chelsea have ram home how threadbare we are at the back at the moment. Assuming Taylor passes his fitness test he, along with Angel Rangel, will have a tough job containing whoever AVB decides to deploy as the wide two of a front three. Anelka, Sturridge, Kalou, Malouda, Torres, Mata... whatever two players occupy these roles will be looking to break at speed and it'll be a really tough afternoon for the Swansea fullbacks if Chelsea get a head of steam up. Brendan Rodgers before the game; Analysis; Chelsea must be looking to win this game. Given that Man Utd are looking, quite simply, unstoppable at the moment, anything but a win would leave the blues at least 7 points behind the champions. Granted, it's early doors, but a 7 point gap behind a team that's flying (and that's before you figure in Man City) isn't something Andre Villas-Boas would be happy about. AVB was in the press this week complaining about officials, which doesn't bode well for a "little club" travelling to one of the giants in the British game. If I'm being paranoid, call me on it, but generally when a manager comes out with something like that (especially when it's actually justified) then normally something soft goes in favour of the big team in the next match...hopefully I'm wrong but just a feeling I have. The Swans backline will be severely tested given the glut of attacking options at Chelsea's disposal. 3 clean sheets in 5 games is no mean feat at this level and should be applauded, and a clean sheet here would be nothing short of miraculous! Michel Vorm has, blunder against Arsenal aside, been in magnificent form this season and looks like being one of the signings of the season (for the money, anyway). A great save from a free kick against West Brom ensured a clean sheet on a day where he didn't have an awful lot to do, but you can pretty much guarantee he'll have a much busier afternoon at the Bridge. For any Chelsea fans worrying about us "parking the bus", though, don't worry. Brendan Rodgers has been in the press this week stating that we'd retain our philosophy of attractive attacking football, and look to dominate the game with possession. Hopefully Neil Taylor is available as he is looking more and more like a Premier League player. Good in possession, intelligent, well timed runs past Sinclair and good link up play mean that once his positioning and defensive nous match his attacking assets, he'll be a great player. Rangel, meanwhile, continues to impress and his relationship with Nathan Dyer is second to none. They'll be looking to utilise this in both attack and defence as they seek to contain the Chelsea wingers. AVB likes his sides to play attacking football, so this should be a game easy on the eye. Swansea's midfield trio of Britton, Allen and Gower (assuming they all retain their places) will have to recreate their performances against West Brom and more to exert similar influence on proceedings, while Jon Obi Mikel, Ramires and others will be looking to close them down and harry them off the ball. I think a lot will depend on how highly AVB rates the threat from Swansea, and, subsequently, what midfield trio he puts out to match ours. If he underestimates our ability to retain possession and play pretty triangles, then while I wouldn't back us getting a result the home fans could grow frustrated until things are changed up in the second half (a lá Man City away). If the Swans can retain possession at all during the first 10 or 15 minutes this should give the team a great deal of confidence. This is a very, very hard game to predict! One note about the recent Man Utd vs Chelsea game, is that Chelsea managed 22 shots on goal, 8 of which were on target. I think it's fair to say that in most games where you have 22 shots, you'll score more than one goal, so judging a team on that performance would be criminal. In contrast, the Swans had 4 shots on target against West Brom, and scored 3 goals. If Chelsea's attackers find their shooting boots on the day, we may be in trouble. Then again, if Swansea can get a hold of the ball early on, some new found confidence might come coursing though and who knows what might happen. Either way, let's hope for a good, clean game of football. Iachu Da. Scott Scottswan's famously biased, ill-fated and banned prediction; Chelsea 3 - 1 Swansea
We have speed on our flanks too, and now with Lita a little more speed down the center and stronger challenging in the air in our center forward position. The Chelsea defense is susceptible and after last weekend I fancy Lita, Sinclair and Dyer to cause their fair share of problems. I think we could take a win here. Granted we are going to be challenged at the back, but this is something I think we can absorb and overcome. Another terrific thread ScottSwan .... and that little stat about Scotland at 543 a goal - priceless.
You forgot to mention the Swansea & Chelsea legend that is Steve Watt (Before you say anything theres a photo of him in the East Side lounge in the liberty so that makes him a legend lol) I am hoping for a draw but if Im honest - if we get a point it will be a fantastic result - cant see us winning up there at all. I will be going up saturday though - really looking foward to seeing Stamford Bridge!
Good effort to those of you going, I wish I was with you! I deleted this from the article to make it fit within the character limit, but I thought I'd post it anyway; I didn't go with it in the "key battles" section, because I think the midfield battle will prove to be the most decisive, but I cannot wait to see Nathan Dyer line up against Ashley Cole. I really, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, hope Nathan recreates the magic moment where Cristiano Ronaldo tucked Cole up so bad he fell on his arse. Chelsea fans, I have nothing against your club, but I have lots against Ashley Cole as I feel he personifies why football is rapidly changing for the worse. Ashley Cole, watch out. Dyer's gonna get ya.
An excellent article! As a lifelong Chelsea fan I dont need to say what I hope the result will be, but I think there will be a freindly welcome at the Bridge for Swansea City, for their Chelsea links! First of all home grown Scott Sinclair , who nearly, but not quite made it as a regular first team player. Then of course Brendan Rodgers, our former youth team and then reserve team coach. We got used to the qualities of Brendan through his regular appearances on Chelsea TV and who I'm sure must keep his eye out for any talent he worked with that might be on the move. Enjoy your trip to fortess Stamford Bridge--a great place to be for a game of football.
No matter how much of a knob he is though , he is still one of the best left backs in the Premier (and arguably in most top 10 list in the world for that position). Nathan must play a blinder for all of the approx 95 minutes of the match to get the better of him. P.S. I don't like what he personifies either , but you can't ignore he is a class player. I feel any scoreline deficit of 2 goals or less would be a good perfromance by us. I have a sneaky feeling of a 3-0 against us though. Hope I am wrong obviously! A draw would be amazing , and a win ...well obviously my head would explode!!
PS--Our formation and tactics at Old Trafford were designed to get a result where few teams recently have escaped without a hiding. Hence our back 4 behaving as if they were part of the forward line. But it very nearly worked! This however will certainly not be the way of things at the weekend--where I'm sure they will revert to becoming the same old meanies!
Nottage, I should have pointed out that for all my misgivings, I think he's probably in the top three left backs in the world on his day. I still really dislike the guy though!
Well done, Scott, another well-written quality read. [Mr_gullible may be back soon to give you a run for your money. ] Glad you mentioned Dyer v. A.Cole afterwards as that was the match-up I'm looking forward to. Thanks for taking the time and effort to write the match-day threads and also taking on the job of moderator. You're doing a grand job
I think Dyer and Aaron Lennon are both similar players, who have, granted, been playing in different leagues so it is always going to be tricky comparison. I've been saying this for a good while, and I've been slated for it a LOT! They're both so quick, that the fact they have no end product doesn't matter! All they need to do is get past their man, get to the byline, look up and play a 5 yard pass to someone in space! Some of Dyer's close control is out of this world, as is Lennon's, and they both have the ability to control a pass and simultaneously knock it beyond a player and use their pace to go around them. I fancy Dyer to be one of our stand out players this year, and if he keeps his "swagger" going all year we might be hard pressed to hold onto him next summer... Here's a thought, reckon any of our players will get into an England squad this year?
we are getting better with every game we play and its a shame that we have got some injuries with key players that we could do with against a great team like Chelsea, After saying that the players who will turn out for us will put up a good show and you never say never but with a bit of lady luck on our behalf then we could force a draw. it wont be the first time or the last time a small club will get a result against a big club, With Brendan (A future chelsea manager) playing a team who he loves will get his tactics right and he will tell our players and fans to go out there and enjoy the day, chelsea are a great team and we will learn a lot from them and you never know we might just get lucky, i doubt it but stranger things have happened before, I'm sticking my neck out and say 2-2....
Great thread, Scott, and you can add Gary Stanley (Tosh era) to your list. Like most posters I'm being realistic about this game. If we had a full squad to choose from, winning would still be a huge ask; depleted as we are it will take a monumental performance combined with a lot of luck to get a result. Chelsea have class and quality all over the pitch and, with Caulker missing, I fear our lack of height at the back is going to get exposed. I'm sure that every player will give 100% but I don't think that will be enough on this occasion. Chelsea should win easily, possibly by three goals, imo. However, the lads are gaining confidence and learning by the game and a draw is not beyond the bounds of possibility if we get the breaks.
Well going to be positive with this, I reckon brendan will do a number on Chelsea and with Sinclair on field he will score, I've put £5 on the swans to win at 12/1 , okay not a huge sum of money to wager, but was thinking about Sinclair to score and a swans win , probably get 40/1 on that Any way 1-2 the swans !
I'm going to risk a tenner jager as the odds are fantastic, its certainly worth a risk of a small bet..
Quality thread Scott. I think if Lampard starts with Mikel and Ramires, we may have a chance of controlling periods of the game, but if they go with the team you've picked (which I think they will), it's gonna be really difficult to get anything from this game. Any of the top teams that commit men in forward positions, will create lots of chances against us (Man City scored 3 after changing to 442 on 60 mins, and we dealt with Arsenal, who didn't attack as much, for most of the game), and especially Chelsea with the amount of options they have in attacking areas. I would go with the same Swans team too, as they all proved themselves up for the job in the last game. Hopefully, the midfield will have another game like Saturday, and Lita can nick a few headers, or get in behind Terry and co. a few times. Whatever happens, this is one of those games we can just enjoy as fans, as we are not expected to get anything from it, and if we did, it would be shock of the season.
on the ever so abundant thread. I do however that will be a different line up to what we actually put out. Here's what I think: Cech Bos Terry Luiz Cole Mikel Meireles Lamps Anelka Torres (unless he starts against Fulham tonight, then I see Drog making a return) Mata Ramires had a torrid time on Sunday, as did Sturridge in the 2nd half. I can maybe seen him playing Ramires tonight instead of Saturday. Mikel should definitely come in in place to solidify the defence and provide insurance for the midfield. Mata in CM seems a bit too attacking unless we're looking on placing Mata in the hole behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Welcome to the Bridge for the first time in the Premiership Swans!
Mate - you are spot on! Not lot of so called pundits see this the way it should be seen. Plastic fans won't understand the predictment Nando is in and they simply accuse him. Opposing fans are way too childish to raise above the colors to admit the fact. All of them want to heap more misery on poor Nando.
Man, I'm no pro, but I've played football. When Torres had to shoot there, the backswing would have ensured all his bodyweight was falling away from him, and getting any connection on a controlled effort at goal would have been nigh on impossible! He went with power and hope I think, and credit to him. Like I say, there's probably a handful of strikers in the world who'd have gone around the keeper like that.
