Swansea City are back in home comforts this weekend as they entertain Chelsea in the tea-time kick-off at the Liberty Stadium (5:30pm kick off, Live on BT Sport).
The Swans are winless in their last five games but should be confident at home after picking up 13 points out of 15 available in the last five. Chelsea are holding on to an outside chance of finishing fourth ahead of Liverpool.
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Swansea City Team News
It looks like the Swans could be without centre-back duo Federico Fernandez and Kyle Bartley. Both will have scans, but news broke today that Fernandez didn’t train, so it looks like the Argentine will sit this one out after picking up an injury at Manchester City last week.
If he is out, that would force Carvalhal to switch to a back four, probably not something he’ll want to do against a side like Chelsea.
Luciano Narsingh remains an injury doubt with an ankle problem, but Renato Sanches could be drafted back into the matchday squad after a lengthy lay-off.
Chelsea Team News
Marcos Alonso serves his final match of a three-match ban tomorrow. Drinkwater could return after a groin injury, but David Luiz and Ethan Ampadu are out with knee and ankle injuries respectively.
What The Managers Are Saying
Swansea boss, Carlos Carvalhal
“It is David against Goliath again,”
“But at the Liberty, we have good support from the fans, they were fantastic against Everton [1-1 draw in the last home game], and our players grow and are bigger at home.
“They have great players, a good manager, but we are in a period where we have to make our presence felt.”
Chelsea Manager, Antonio Conte
“It won’t be easy because we are going to play against a team fighting to avoid relegation. In the last five games at home, Swansea won four games and drew only once. That means they are in good form. We must pay great attention.
“If we want to continue to have hope of a place in the Champions League we need to get three points and try to put pressure on the teams ahead of us.”
Chelsea’s Last Match Line-Up
Burnley 1–2 Chelsea
League Positions and Recent Form
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Chelsea | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 63 | LWLDWW |
| 17 | Swansea | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 27 | 51 | -24 | 33 | WDLDDL |
Swansea Line-Up Prediction
With a forced change to a back four expected, you’d expect Carvalhal to pack the midfield to compensate, so we could defend in a 4-5-1 shape instead, with Andre Ayew and Carroll looking to get forward when possible.
Fabianski,
Naughton, van der Hoorn, Mawson, Olsson,
A. Ayew, King, Ki, Carroll, Clucas
J. Ayew.
Pre-Match Stats
Premier League record vs Chelsea (Home and Away)
- Swansea City have drawn 3 of their 6 home games against Chelsea
- 5 of the 10 goals conceded at home against Chelsea were in 1 game
- The Swans are unbeaten in their last 5 home games, winning 4 of them. Avoiding a defeat would equal a club record of 6 unbeaten in the Premier League.
- Chelsea are 7 Premier League matches now without a clean sheet.
- Swansea could become the first side outside of the top 6 to achieve wins against 3 of the top 6, after home wins against Arsenal and Liverpool.
- Swansea’s top goalscorer Jordan Ayew has scored 7 Premier League goals this season, all scored in the second half.
- Olivier Giroud has 2 goals and 2 assists in 4 games at the Liberty Stadium.
Last Outing
Swansea City 2-2 Chelsea
The Swans scored twice in the space of 3 minutes to cancel out Costa’s 18th-minute opener, but the striker denied us the win with 9 minutes to play with an acrobatic finish from close range. It was the game that saw Guidolin first adopt a back three at the Liberty Stadium, to much criticism from fans. He was forced into making a change after 41 minutes, substituting Neil Taylor for Mo Barrow in order to change system.
Key stats: 45% possession, Shots: 4 (2 on target), 1 corner.
Tactical Match Analysis: Swansea City 2-2 Chelsea
Match Officials
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Harry Lennard
Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh
Prediction
A tough one to call this. I was thinking a 1-1 draw but we’ll miss Fernandez in defence it seems and that’ll force us to go to a back four. It worked against Everton but Chelsea will offer far more of an attacking threat with the likes of Giroud and Hazard so it’s a tough game. If Carvalhal adopts some more positive tactics and encourages his side to push up and pressure Chelsea, then we have a chance, but I have the feeling he’ll get us to sit off them. If he does, it could possibly be a long afternoon for us.
Swansea City 1-2 Chelsea
