Chelsea host Swansea later today in the English Premier League as the Blues look to continue their push for the Premier League title
Surprisingly, Swansea City have won more points so far in 2017 than Chelsea. Both teams have played six matches, but while Chelsea have lost only once – the 2-0 away defeat to Spurs at the start of the calendar year – the back-to-back away draws at Liverpool and Burnley have seen them drop more points than Paul Clement’s side.
Despite the Swans’ good form, they face an uphill task later tonight as they look to upset a Chelsea side that have looked like the best team in the league by some distance this season, but will be boosted by the fact that the Blues are currently struggling to create chances in front of goal
The good news for Chelsea is that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has recovered from an illness and has been included in the squad for tonight’s match. Antonio Conte does not have any other injury concerns and is expected to name his first-choice side once more after rotating his team during their midweek FA Cup tie.
Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azipilicueta will form Conte’s heralded three-man defence while N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic will return to the starting lineup alongside Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
Up front, Pedro is expected to get the nod over Willian as the Spanish international has been in fine form over the last few games. Eden Hazard and Diego Costa will complete the attacking trio against the Swans.
Swansea were dealt a blow when Nathan Dyer was ruled out for the season after picking up an Achilles injury in the win over Leicester a fortnight ago. This means that either Luciano Narsingh or Wayne Routledge will take the Englishman’s place in the side.
Ki Sung-Yeung has also been ruled out of the fixture while Jefferson Montero is a major doubt with a hamstring injury. There is some positive news for Swansea, however, as they have club captain Leon Britton back from injury.
Chelsea squad: Courtois, Begovic, Fabregas, Zouma, Alonso, Kante, Hazard, Loftus-Cheek, Moses, Pedro, Costa, Matic, Willian, Batshuayi, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Luiz, Eduardo, Aina, Ake
Swansea squad: Fabianski, Amat, Ayew, Van der Hoorn, Mawson, Britton, Fer, Llorente, Baston, Nordfeldt, Routledge, Olsson, Birighitti, Rangel, Sigurdsson, Cork, Naughton, Narsingh, Fernandez, Kingsley, Carroll, Fulton, McBurnie
