Chelsea will lock their horns against Swansea City in the top flight of English football on Wednesday evening, after their 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday. The Blues will be very much eager to win this match as well, after losing the match against Roma in the Champions League, beating West Brom and Qarabag FK (UCL) comprehensively and then having a draw against the Reds now. There is a neck to neck battle between the Londoners and Roma to finish at the top of Group C in the Champions League with one game left, while Manchester City are clearly dominating the league in England and it will be quite tough to displace them as the leaders this season.
Team News :
Chelsea :
David Luiz could play a part in this match once again after returning to the Chelsea squad at the weekend, though has been in and out of the team recently. He featured in the 3-0 loss to Serie A outfit AS Roma and reportedly got himself in a bust-up with Antonio Conte, with speculations going around that he could possibly leave Stamford Bridge and move to Manchester United sooner or later.
Thibaut Courtois will start in the Chelsea goal in this match and will be expected to be solid right through. Azpilicueta, along with Christensen and Gary Cahill are the three expected defenders to start in central defense. Zappacosta and Alonso will play in two wing-back positions. Drinkwater and Kante are expected to take place in the heart of the midfield while Eden Hazard, Alvaro Morata and Willian are expected to lead the Chelsea attack from the upfront.
Predicted Starting Eleven :
Chelsea :
Goalkeeper : Courtois.
Defenders : Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill.
Midfielders : Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Kante, Alonso.
Attackers : Willian, Morata, Hazard
My Predicted Scoreline :
Chelsea 3-1 Swansea City.
Editor’s View-
The Londoners would be the odds on favourites to win this one, as they look to catch hold of Pep Guardiola’s side, with things slipping away at the top of the Premier League table. Antonio Conte would be happy with the way that his team secured a point at Anfield this weekend against Liverpool, though he would have wanted more from his team, as they dropped a couple.
This should be (in most circumstances) an easy game for the hosts, who are unbeaten in the last four games and will want to continue to do so, as they look to take back a win, this time around. Hopefully, the west London outfit can get things right on the night, as any sort of slip-up would hurt their ambitions of retaining the title that they won in the previous term.
The Italian manager knows that his team are 11 points behind the Citizens after 13 games and if they wish to really challenge for the title, they need to keep going all guns blazing. Any points lost at the moment could end up being really costly for them in the long run and it will be interesting to see if Chelsea decides to sign any more stars in the new year, once the transfer window opens.
