Premier League - Swansea City vs Chelsea

Premier League Matchday 34 sees Chelsea travel to Wales to face off against relegation-threatened Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Both sides come into this match seeking what would be a vital 3 points towards their respective objectives this season, and both will undoubtedly feel they've every chance of getting just that. For the home side, their record against the Blues in recent seasons offers much to be optimistic about. Just 2 wins for their guests in the sides' last 6 matches against each other can only give the Swans encouragement of achieving a positive result on Saturday, and the former's last 3 visits to the Liberty in all competitions since the Welsh outfit's promotion in 2011 all resulting in draws will only strengthen Garry Monk's men's hope of taking any kind of points from the weekend's affair. For the Blues, a massive turnaround in the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday that saw the Londoners come back from the brink of elimination and obtain a 2-0 win to advance past Paris Saint-Germain on away goals via a goal from André Schurrle and a dramatic late tie-winner from Demba Ba will see the Blues arrive in Wales soaring with confidence.










The reverse fixture a few months ago at Stamford Bridge the day after Christmas ended in a win for the home side via a solitary goal from Eden Hazard half an hour in.










The sides negotiated contrasting results the weekend before in their Matchday 33 fixtures. Swansea fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Hull City at the KC Stadium courtesy of a 40th minute goal from George Boyd, while Chelsea triumphed 3-0 over Stoke City at the Bridge via a goal from Mohamed Salah on his first ever Chelsea start to put his side ahead, a 250th career goal from Frank Lampard to double the Blues' advantage, and a stunner from Willian to kill the Potters off for good.











Eden Hazard will be out for Chelsea after the Belgian sustained a calf injury and came off 18 minutes in in the Blues' heroic 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, while the home side have not injuries bar fringe player Kyle Bartley.

Honestly, after the high of PSG game, we should win this.

We have the depth to at least try to win every match in the PL without compromising our CL hopes. Matic in midfield will mean that one of the two midfielders is going to have a rest and that D. Luiz can eventually replace one of JT and Cahill in defense, Cole back will also mean rest for either Iva or Azpi and we have a lot of depth upfront.

We could play Matic-Ramires to rest our Midfield but I would rather see Luiz play. Also, Salah should start.

Cole needs to get some minutes in, because he's playing the first leg in the semi. Need to get him match fit, I'd also like to see Kalas get some time in at some stage as well but that is very unlikely.

Yeah, I doubt we'll see Kalas play.

But I would agree, maybe Sub Cole on to begin with?

PLEASE START SALAH

Salah deserves a start.

Claims JT won't be involved at the weekend as he's not 100% after picking up that knock in Tuesday's game.

Apart from your visit to Anfield, this is the last of your fixtures where you might drop points.

Judging by how this season went we're far more likely to drop points against Swansea than at Anfield. Not even kidding

Art Morte wrote:Apart from your visit to Anfield, this is the last of your fixtures where you might drop points.

ffs were not dropping points against these nutheads im 200% sure

Shed wrote:Claims JT won't be involved at the weekend as he's not 100% after picking up that knock in Tuesday's game.

so david luiz then? OK disregard my previous post

José has cancelled the presser for this match tomorrow.

Shed wrote:José has cancelled the presser for this match tomorrow.

why?

Funsies

We'll win here. Swansea are poor.

Should Demba start? I'm not saying it because of that goal (that goal tho ) but because even when Eto'o was in good conditions he often got subbed off and he just played the entire match against PSG without being fully fit. Torres seems to have fallen down in the pecking order too.

Start Eto'o imo.

SWANSEA CITY XI: Vorm, Rangel, Chico, Williams (C), Davies, Britton, Shelvey, Dyer, Hernandez, Routledge, Bony

CHELSEA XI: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Salah, Willian, Schurrle; Ba

SUBS: Tremmel, Amat, Taylor, Fulton, de Guzman, Emnes, Ngog


SUBS: Schwarzer, Cole, David Luiz, Mikel, Oscar, Torres, Eto’o

Ba over Eto'o/Torres and Salah over Oscar the only unexpected bits.

We're gonna cock this up, aren't we? You just know it.

Shed wrote:Ba over Eto'o/Torres and Salah over Oscar the only unexpected bits.

Tbh I expected Ba to start