From www.theswanseaway.co.uk 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). £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; Chelsea Cech Cole Terry Cahill Azpilacueta Ramires Mikel Mata Hazard Oscar Ba Swansea Vorm Rangel Chico Williams Davies Britton Ki De Guzman Pablo Routledge Michu 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: Michael Laudrup has clearly been looking to address the defence over the last week or two: 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.
hope they play Torres and hopefully a decent striker in the off season will appear so Michu can play AM
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. Dammit musty! Ha. Also, I think we are much, much better with Michu at CF.
Disagree completely. I think Michu disrupts the midfield rhythm, De Guzman, Ki and Leon are all excellent at keeping the ball, which is what we'll need tomorrow.
Two questions 1. Who else is going from here ? 2. Why is it on anyone's match thread there is never a pub guide ?
looking forward to this game at chelsea in the hope we up the tempo against a big club. Michu will be wasted if he plays a loan striker as he is far more useful as an attacking midfielder running on to the ball than up front waiting for the ball....we have luke moore who has a pretty good record of scoring goals to the amount of game time he has had and it should be him as the loan striker against chelsea......If we keep it tight with short sharp passes then we will get the ball up to michu and moore and we must use our wingers to a better effect than what we have been doing recently....If we play the long passing game then chelsea will have a field day with their slightly better players who will have more ball time and with what they got will score in front of their home fans.....we must keep the ball like we use to do like the first half of the season....I can only go on how we have been playing and our form and think chelsea will win comfortably but and a big but if we play to our strengths like we know we can then we could quite easily get a result......No long balls or long passing and no michu being wasted up front on his own where he cant perform his dazzling skill from midfield....
IF, and it`s a big if, they get off their sun loungers and leave the beach for 90 minutes, we stand a chance. If we play like we have done the last few games, it`s going to be a long afternoon for us. It`s all very well our players talking the talk, they`ve got to shut the f++k up and do the business on the pitch. Yes you can argue we`ve been a tad unlucky in some of the games recently, time to change up a gear or two. If we play like we know we can, we should grab a draw, or better. If we don`t, we`ll likely get mullered perhaps 3-0. P.S. Good luck to Wrexham & Newport today, let`s hope for a Welsh derby at Wembley.
Luiz is the player that caused us the most problems in past games. he has been playing as a deep midfield player which makes him even more potent.
Teams are out: Chelsea: Petr Cech, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Oscar, Ramires, David Luiz, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Demba Ba. Subs: Ross Turnbull, Branislav Ivanovic, Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, John Obi Mikel, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Bertrand. Swans: Michel Vorm, Angel Rangel, Chico Flores, Ashley Williams (capt), Ben Davies, Leon Britton, Ki Sung-Yueng, Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez, Wayne Routledge, Michu. Subs: Gerhard Tremmel, Dwight Tiendalli, Garry Monk, Neil Taylor, Nathan Dyer, Itay Shechter, Luke Moore.
i do fear the worse today, we have nothing to play for except pride, chelsea have the incentive of their champions league place, plus they'll want to get one over on us for the league cup semi. i do hope we're up for today.....
