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Swansea vs Chelsea – Match Preview

Swansea come into this afternoon’s clash with Chelsea on the back of successive defeats, after an opening day victory away at Burnley they have gone onto lose at home to Hull and away at Champions Leicester, they will hope that they aren’t handed out a third successive defeat when Antonio Conte’s side come to South Wales.

A lack of goals has been Swansea’s undoing and more worrying is that the goals that they have scored haven’t come from their attackers. Summer signing Fernando Llorente is yet to get off the mark while Borja Baston has yet to even feature for the club since his record transfer fee capture from Atletico Madrid.

The only person who has scored for the club is Leroy Fer, he scored the winner against Burnley on the opening day and gave Swansea a glimmer of hope against Leicester before the international break with his late goal which in the end proved to be nothing more than a consolation effort.

They may have lost that game at The King Power 2-1 but the scoreline suggests the game was much closer than it actually was, had Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez not missed his second half spot kick then the game would have been well out of Swansea’s reach. A late flourish couldn’t pull them back into the game and Swansea had to make do with coming home empty handed.

The concern is not only a lack of goals but plugging the gap that Ashley Williams has left behind, Francesco Guidolin hasn’t bought in anyone in the transfer window to replace him so he will have to make do with what he has left over at The Liberty Stadium. Jordi Amat is playing well enough as Williams’ replacement but they are massive shoes to fill.

And Amat will have to be at his best this afternoon with Chelsea rediscovering the form that led them to the title in 2015. Before the international break The Blues steamrollered over Burnley at Stamford Bridge with Eden Hazard showing that he is back at his brilliant best.

It only took him three minutes to find the net against Sean Dyche’s side but throughout the game he was a constant menace as he ran Burnley ragged. Last season saw his form dramatically downturn but we are once again witnessing the Hazard of old and that in turn is making Chelsea fire on all cylinders.

Chelsea’a first two wins of the season were thanks to late Diego Costa strikes and you got the feeling that they were still perhaps a work of progress but that progress took a huge leap after their comfortable 3-0 win against The Clarets. It’s a maximum points haul so far and they will look to continue that run Today.

There could also be a first appearance for David Luiz as he starts his second spell at the West London club. He was signed on the final day of the transfer window for £32m and the question will now be whether or not Antonio Conte changes to his favoured 3 at the back which he has used to such great success with both Juventus and Italy.

The form guide will point to a Chelsea win and you would be hard pressed to argue with that. Chelsea will go into this game as heavy favourites and rightly so. I’m not going to argue with the bookmakers as Chelsea make it a perfect four wins from four. An away win for me.

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