Tag: Swansea

Fresh from their victory at Wembley on Sunday, Chelsea head to Swansea this weekend as they look for a strong finish to the campaign. The Blues know that the Champions League is a tall order for them with just four games remaining, but at least 12 points from those matches would send them off on a high. They also have an FA Cup final to prepare for, and a winning run would be the perfect way to approach the showpiece clash at Wembley. Can Conte’s side take all three points at the Liberty Stadium this weekend?

The visitors do have some decent form behind them, which has raised hopes slightly in terms of a top four finish, but it still requires a huge slip from Tottenham or Liverpool. The Blues need to win all of their games to make it happen, including the clash with the Reds at Stamford Bridge, but first they’re out to claim a win against a Swansea side who are battling against the drop. It does seem like an opportunity for Conte and his side, but they have to be wary as they’re travelling to a side who are in danger and fighting for their lives.

Team News: Will Conte Go With Two up Top?

Chelsea come here knowing Emerson Palmieri will start at left-back for the third consecutive game, with Marcos Alonso still suspended. The Blues are also without Danny Drinkwater and David Luiz, neither of whom were likely to start in this one. The club may have finalised a cut-price tribunal fee for Ethan Ampadu this week, but the versatile Welshman is ruled out of this trip to his homeland due to injury. There aren’t too many big issues for Conte to wrestle with, as the only question is around Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata. Will the Frenchman lead the line, or will they form a partnership yet again?

The last time these two sides met, former Chelsea assistant manager Paul Clement was in charge of Swansea. However, Carlos Carvalhal has been called in as a firefighter, after Clement left them rooted in the drop zone. The former Sheffield Wednesday boss hasn’t made that many noticeable changes, but he’s turned things around at the club. They are currently lining up with a 5-4-1 formation in recent weeks, and against a Blues side who are starting to pick up a little momentum they’re likely to use a similarly defensive approach. The absences of Renato Sanches and Wilfred Bony won’t help the hosts either, but they still head into this one with options in attack.

Swansea Form

Swansea come into this clash down in 18th in the table, so facing off against one of the top six isn’t what they need right now. It’s not an easy weekend for rivals Southampton and Stoke, but the Welsh side are in danger of the drop after some poor recent form. They’ve failed to win in six matches, which culminated in their 5-0 thrashing at newly crowned champions Man City last weekend. Bouncing back from that loss is going to be a challenge for Carvalhal and his men.

The Swans saw their form pick up thanks to their impressive run in the FA Cup earlier this season. Getting results in the cup did seem to give them a boost in the league, but they’ve picked up just two points since a 3-0 hammering by Tottenham in the quarter-finals on St Patrick’s Day. That leaves the Welsh side in a tough position, as they look for a morale boost ahead of a crucial home clash.

Swansea v Chelsea Head to Head

Chelsea come into this clash following back to back wins against the Swans, but their performances against the Welsh side of late haven’t been great. They’ve taken a point from their last two visits to this ground, after throwing away a winning position under Antonio Conte here last term. We’re hoping for a more entertaining clash than the 1-0 Chelsea win the pair played out in November.

• Chelsea 1-0 Swansea, Nov 2017
• Chelsea 3-1 Swansea, Feb 2017
• Swansea 2-2 Chelsea, Sept 2016
• Swansea 1-0 Chelsea, Apr 2016
• Chelsea 2-2 Swansea, Aug 2015

Betting Tips

• Both Teams to Score – 5/4 with Coral
• Olivier Giroud to score – 7/5 with Ladbrokes

Chelsea visit Wales as 11/20 favourites with BetVictor, as they look for a strong finish to the season. You can back the draw at 3/1 with Bet365, while the hosts are 6/1 with Betfair. After improving their form, the former champions are now widely expected to follow that up by claiming the points in their trip to the Liberty Stadium. However, will they do Swansea’s relegation rivals a favour by claiming a win, as the visitors look to keep their faint Champions League hopes alive.

Swansea are out of form overall, but they’ve picked up in their home matches. The hosts have scored in eight of their last nine at home ahead of this clash, and they’ll be looking to punish the Blues. The visitors are without a clean sheet in eight on the road, with little sign of that changing. There’s a clear lack of leadership within the side, and the Swans should take advantage. With that in mind, our first tip here is to back both teams to score at very handsome odds of 5/4 with Coral.

The Blues have looked good with Giroud up top and the striker scored against Southampton at Wembley on Sunday. That should earn him a starting place for this clash, and we feel like the forward can cause problems against the Swansea defence. He could well have Alvaro Morata creating space for him too, so we are backing Giroud to find the net in Saturday’s late game. He’s our pick for an anytime goal scorer, which seems like a good value bet at 7/5 with Ladbrokes.

After a creditable draw at Anfield at the weekend, Chelsea return to Stamford Bridge to face a struggling Swansea side. The Blues may have been able to come back from behind to Liverpool, but that’s left them a full 11 points off league leaders Manchester City. With such a massive gap to pull back, is it time for the reigning champions to give up on any potential title aspirations? Either way, Antonio Conte still has a job on his hands to secure Champions League football for the Blues, who are only three points ahead of sixth place ahead of this bonus midweek round of fixtures. Slipping up on Wednesday would be a huge blow to their top four hopes.

This game sees a return for Paul Clement, former Chelsea assistant manager who now has a tough job on his hands at Swansea. Despite saving the Welsh side from the drop last season, his team have dropped down to 19th place in the league ahead of Wednesday night’s clash. That’s the same position they were in when he took charge earlier this year, so clearly not much has changed. Can Clement boost his hopes of keeping his job with a win at the champions, and put another dent in his former team’s distant hopes of winning the title?

Team News: Conte Likely to Bolster the Attack

It could be said that Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 system was a little too pragmatic against Liverpool, which failed to test Liverpool’s poor defence. When changes were made late on, the game opened up for the champions. The introduction of Cesc Fabregas was crucial, the 3-5-2 set-up is made for the Spaniard.

However, we still expect him to make a start here despite a likely change to 3-4-3, with Willian and Pedro both pushing to start. With Tiemoue Bakayoko failing to impress, we’re backing Cesc to start alongside N’Golo Kante here. Given that Conte has close to a full squad to choose from, he shouldn’t have any other tough decisions to make ahead of this match.

Apart from Kyle Bartley, Swansea have no injuries ahead of this daunting trip. However, on-loan Tammy Abraham is ineligible to play against his parent club. They started with a diamond midfield and two up top last weekend in an attempt to make their side more attacking, but don’t expect the Welsh side to be quite so daring in this game. The Swans will need a bit more defensive steel, and they could potentially switch to a 3-5-2 system to try and match up with Chelsea’s approach. They started with that system in a recent clash at Arsenal, and we expect to see just as much caution from Clement here.

Swansea Form

Swansea are having an awful time of things coming into this game, having taken one point from their last five matches. They may have ended a four game losing streak at the weekend, but that point came in a clash at home to Bournemouth. That’s the kind of game the Swans really need to win in order to survive, and that’s left them in serious trouble heading up to Christmas. At this point, it does seem like Clement has a lot of work to do to keep his job.

Swansea have an awful record on the road, with just two away wins since February in the Premier League. That’s a pretty long spell, and their two victories came at the current bottom side – Crystal Palace – and last season’s bottom team Sunderland. That’s a huge way from taking three points away against the champions, especially after losing some key players in the summer.

Chelsea v Swansea Head to Head

The Swans did have a bit of form against Chelsea, but that was put to the sword in a 3-1 win in February. The Blues started their dismal 2015/16 campaign against the Swans, dropping two points at the Bridge. Conte suffered a similar result early on last season, which was when problems first started to emerge with his 4-1-4-1 system. However, on recent form it’s hard to see a repeat of any Chelsea issues here.

• Chelsea 3-1 Swansea, Feb 2017
• Swansea 2-2 Chelsea, Sept 2016
• Swansea 1-0 Chelsea, Apr 2016
• Chelsea 2-2 Swansea, Aug 2015
• Swansea 0-5 Chelsea, Jan 2015

Betting Tips

• Chelsea to win to nil – 4/5 with Coral
• Chelsea to win 2-0 – 11/2 with BetVictor

Chelsea came into this game as heavy favourites for the points here, they’re 1/6 with Bet365 to claim another home win. Swansea’s awful away form is quite clear in their price here, they can be backed at 18/1 with Ladbrokes to cause a huge shock. Even a draw in this game would be a surprise, and the Swans are out at 6/1 with Betfred to take a point back to Wales. Clearly there’s little value in backing the hosts to come away with a win, but Swansea’s poor away form does offer a few other options.

The Welsh side have managed just three away goals in the league this season, and finding the net has been really hard for them since selling their two main attacking threats in the summer. With Tammy Abraham out of this game, they have even less chance of causing any problems in this trip. The Swans claimed two of their away strikes against Frank De Boer’s awful Crystal Palace outfit, while their lack of shots this season further shows their issues up top. We’re backing a Chelsea win to nil at 4/5 with Coral here.

Conte has been clear about the issues his squad have faced with fixture congestion. With an extra midweek Premier League match, he’s going to want to get his side out in front and close the game down. The Swans are a side who keep things quite tight, so we’re backing a straightforward 2-0 win for the champions, which is 11/2 with BetVictor.

Can Chelsea continue their push for the title against a former coach? Their meeting with Swansea sees a return to Stamford Bridge for Paul Clement, who took over at the Liberty Stadium last month. The former Blues assistant left a role at Bayern Munich to take over in Wales, and he’s overseen a revival in the Swans’ fortunes. They’re now out of the relegation zone, having performed well in big away games in the league. Their impressive recent performances should see them make this trip high on confidence. Can they continue their solid form away to the Premier league leaders on Saturday?

The Blues saw their lead at the top cut down to eight points in the last league weekend. Their draw at Burnley allowed Manchester City to move eight points off the top, so Chelsea can’t afford another slip. Recent weeks have seen a rotating roster of title challengers, which has worked in the leaders’ favour. Allowing any team to get too close is dangerous. Can they return to winning ways when they host the Swans? After 11 straight home victories, you’d expect that Antonio Conte’s men will take all three points.

Team News: Conte to return to full strength side

Chelsea continue to have no injury worries, which gives them a fully fit squad ahead of this home game. Last weekend saw several changes for the FA Cup tie with Wolves, with quite a few big names rested. Conte is likely to revert to his strongest side ahead of their return to league action. Nathaniel Chalobah had the unenviable task of standing in for N’Golo Kante. Expect the former Leicester man to return here, alongside the first choice back three. While they’re up against a team who are stuck towards the bottom of the Premier League, they can’t afford to rotate this weekend.

Swansea are missing long term absentee Jefferson Montero, the winger hasn’t featured since August. They’re also missing midfielders Ki Sung-yueng and Leon Britton. Paul Clement has set his team up in a 4-3-3 formation since taking over, that set up has helped them to climb the Premier League table. Will their new approach help them to cause problems at Stamford Bridge?

Swansea Form

Swansea were propping up the Premier League table back in January, which was when Clement took charge. While he suffered an early elimination in the FA Cup, their league form has been impressive. They’ve won four of six matches since Clement took over, which has seen them jump up to 15th place in the table. They now have a four point cushion on the bottom three, which represents a huge turnaround. They’ll be hoping to widen that gap this weekend. Survival looked very unlikely under Bob Bradley, so the former Chelsea assistant deserves a lot of praise for his work so far.

The Swans have made a couple of tough trips since Clement took charge too. Not only did they beat the champions Leicester at home, but they claimed three points at Anfield last month. Their 3-2 win over Liverpool was impressive, especially given the nature of their performance. The Welsh side looked assured in possession, and they controlled the tempo of the game. They came close to taking a point at Man City, as a last minute goal saw them suffer a 2-1 defeat. Clearly they won’t be overwhelmed by their trip to Stamford Bridge this weekend.

Chelsea v Swansea Head to Head

Recent meetings haven’t been kind to the Blues, they’ve won just two of their last five encounters with the Welsh side. Their 2-2 draw with the Swans here last season was the beginning of a season of turmoil. That was followed by a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty later on in the campaign. Their draw at Swansea this season was the first time the team dropped points under Conte. Can they claim revenge for that in the reverse fixture this weekend?

• Swansea 2-2 Chelsea, Sept 2016
• Swansea 1-0 Chelsea, Apr 2016
• Chelsea 2-2 Swansea, Aug 2015
• Swansea 0-5 Chelsea, Jan 2015
• Chelsea 4-2 Swansea, Sept 2014

Betting Tips

• Over 2.5 Chelsea goals – 23/20 at BetVictor
• Chelsea to win and both teams to score – 2/1 at Betfred

Chelsea come into this game as heavy favourites to take the points. They are priced at 2/9 with Bet365 to take the victory, while the visitors are outsiders. The Swans are priced at 10/1 with Sky Bet, while Coral make the draw 9/2. It’s hard to see anything but a home win, given their excellent record at Stamford Bridge. While the Swans have claimed a win at Anfield, that was against an out of form Liverpool side. This will be a much tougher test despite their impressive recent record against the Pensioners.

While Clement has led to some improved results, he hasn’t done much to end the Swans’ problems at the back. They’re still the worst defence in the Premier League, having conceded eight times in their last five, despite their move up the table. The Blues have an excellent attacking record this season, and they’ll be expecting to add to that this weekend. They’ve scored three or more goals in five of their last six outings. We’re backing over 2.5 goals for the hosts, especially with Diego Costa and Eden Hazard in excellent form. That’s priced at 23/20 with BetVictor, and it seems much better than backing them on the match result market.

We’re also going with a goal from the visitors, based on their recent away trips. They’ve scored at Anfield and the Etihad in recent weeks under Clement. Swansea have scored twice in their last two visits to Stamford Bridge, so they should be confident of getting a goal here. We’re backing a home win and both teams to score, which is priced at 2/1 with Betfred. They’ve scored in seven of their last nine away, so we expect them to get a goal away to the leaders.