CHELSEA 4 SWANSEA CITY 0, (Diego Costa 2, OSCAR 2) Its seems impossible to conceive of Swansea getting back into this and the story may now simply be how many Chelsea score. They have been a real pleasure to watch so far. The pick of the goals was Oscars second, a sublime shot from just inside the box after a swift counter from the away side. When Jose Mourinhos side are in this kind of mood, there is hardly any stopping them. Two goals for Costa and two for Oscar, and the visitors are in total control. Swansea gifted two of those goals to Chelsea, but that does not tell the full story. Fabregas has been exceptional as the Blues took the game by the scruff and have not relented. 45 + 2And thats that and how the home side must be relieved! Its Swansea City 0-4 Chelsea! 45 + 1Fabregas is on fire today and his ball finds Hazard, who just fails to create the room for a shot. The midfielder is running the show and Swansea are powerless to stop him. 45Matic fluffs a shooting chance following another sublime ball from Fabregas. There will be two minutes of extra time. 43WILLIAN HITS THE CROSSBAR! Diego Costa bursts through after a beautiful ball from Fabregas. He hares through and, one-on-one with the keeper, cant find a way through. He squares it to Willian, who hammers a shot onto the bar. Chelsea somehow fail to score. 40Chelsea are in cruise control but Mourinho is still urging them on, possibly with the importance of goal diffference in mind. 38Chelsea continue to press and Swansea look bereft of confidence now. They can barely string a pass together. Gomis tries to run through the Chelsea back-line on his own but Terry blocks. 36Assist Diego Costa AdTech Ad 36Goal Oscar 36AND THATS THE FOURTH! OSCAR SCORES AND THE BLUES ARE RAMPANT! Swansea barely have time to recover, as Willian storms through the middle. He spots and feeds Costa peeling away down the right, and the striker tees up Oscar for the smash home from just inside the box! What a counter! AdTech Ad 34Goal Diego Costa DIEGO COSTA! Fernandez passes it back to Fabianski but doesnt look first and his pass finds the lurking, who coolly slots home past the stranded keeper. Chelsea are utterly on top now and the home side are the architects of their own downfall once more. 32SubstitutionWayne RoutledgeMarvin Emnes 32Terry heads clear well from a Williams long ball and Chelsea attack immediately. Carroll has to hack down Fabregas to prevent the inevitable blue surge. 31Monk has been giving instructions to Carroll and Sigurdsson during that break in play, presumably telling them to be less utterly woeful. 30Routledge gives the ball away and Hazard surges forwards, but loses the ball with a poor touch. The Swans winger looks to have damaged his ankle and is going to be coming off, with Emnes likely to take his place. 29WILLIAN HITS THE POST! A lovely interchange between Ivanovic and Fabregas allows the Spaniard to sneak a reverse pass into the path of the onrushing Willian, whose shot is driven high and onto the post with Fabianski beaten. 28Fabregas and Hazard try to work a one-two but the ball is cleared on the edge of the box by Williams. Chelsea immediately win the ball back though, with Sigurdsson and Carroll totally unable to impose themselves on this midfield battle. 27Chelsea are content to pass the ball around in the central third, looking for the overlap or the through ball. It is already nigh-on impossible to see the home side getting back into the game, although they will surely have chances. 26Oscar, looking probably for the run from Filipe Luis, puts the ball straight out. A rare mistake from the men in blue. 25Cahill puts himself under pressure with a poor touch after a bad header back to him from Matic. Gomis looks to sneak in but the Chelsea defender recovers in time. 24Swansea actually get the ball into the Chelsea half for a period, but waste the chance with a shot that is wide. 22Costa is adjudged offside in acres of space by the referee, who overrules his linesman, erroneously though. The ball had been passed back by a Swansea player and Chelsea are justifiably angry. 21Costa goes close again, this time firing it narrowly over from the edge of the box. The Blues are so comfortable here and are treating us to a very stylish display. 20Assist Cesc Fàbregas 20Goal Diego Costa DIEGO COSTA FROM CLOSE! Chelsea are running riot. A triangle of passes on the edge of the box between Willian, Fabregas, and Oscar, before the Spaniard slides a pass through to Costa. As the cliche goes, he doesnt miss from there. Its Swansea 0-2 Chelsea and we are only 19 minutes in. 18Fabianski plunges low to his left to deny Hazard after Chelsea seize on another Swansea error in central midfield. 16Oscar forces a shot just wide of Fabianskis left post after some lovely build-up. Chelseas patience is perhaps their most devastating quality: they wait and wait and then thread the pass onto a runner having dragged the opposition this way and that. 15Ashley Williams clears a Diego Costa cross and may just have turned his ankle doing so. Chelsea are now relentless in their patient, probing attacks. The ball is being moved around too quickly to mention everyone involved, but Matic and Fabregas are the fulcrum around which everything moves. Its quite superb. 14When Chelsea are moving the ball around like this, its almost unstoppable. The attack is only halted when Gomis wraps his legs around Fabregas and brings him down. Chelsea take the free-kick short and retain possession. 12Willian shoots over after Oscar has a shot well parried by Fabianski. The Chelsea build up was lovely, lots of swift, jiking interplay and passes. They can break so quickly and ably, that the lack of possession will not bother the visitors too greatly. 11Swansea have had nearly 80% of the possession so far, but Terry steps out of the line and steals the ball well. He finds Willian, but the Brazilian is fouled. Chelsea build from the free-kick. 9Routledge combines well with Gomis, who looks sharp, but Ivanovic is able to watch the ball out of play. There has been a really great tempo and energy to this game so far. 8Ivanovic blocks a shot from Routledge, after a kind bounce from a Castro Oliveira cross finds the winger in a bit of space. Matic clears. 7If theres a team who can sit and defend a lead, though, its Chelsea. The home side are looking for width through the full-backs, especially Tiendalli, who is getting forward well. 6Chelsea are struggling to get on the ball after that suberb start. Sigurdsson and Carroll are setting a good tempo in midfield, obviously keen to atone for the error that led to the goal. 5Swansea look to push up against Chelsea, with new loan signing Castro Oliveira trying to get on the ball as much as possible. They are a patient side though and will probe consistently, looking for space and the final pass. 3Hazard is down and holding his face. Hes getting a lot of boos from the Swansea fans too, who have not forgotten his sending off a few seasons back for kicking a ball-boy. 2AND SIGURDSSON HITS THE POST! Looking to make amends straight away, the Icelandic midfielder immediately tries to strike back, hitting a rising, curling shot which rattles the frame of the goal. 1Goal Oscar And we are off...! AND ITS OSCAR! WHAT A START FROM CHELSEA! A sloppy pass from Sigurdsson puts Carroll under pressure and he miscontrols. Oscr pounces and takes a few touches before driving it low and hard to Fabianskis right. It promises to be a tense affair at the Liberty, so join me shortly for Swansea City vs Chelsea LIVE! In their last five games on the road, Chelsea have only managed five points from a possible fifteen, conceding eight goals in the last four of those matches. Jose Mourinho will hope that his team can arrest that slide and maintain their lead at the top of the table. Swansea have not won an EPL game since Boxing Day but are on a good run of scoring, having netted in 11 consecutive games. However, Bony scored or created six of their last 11 goals, so it will be interesting to see how that affects the side. Garry Monk and Swansea now face life after Wilfred Bony, following the strikers £30million move to Chelseas rivals for the title. Bafetimbi Gomis, who has impressed when starting, comes in to fill his boots. Dwight Tiendalli gets a rare start and Jefferson Montero misses out through injury, forcing a slight reshuffle of the attacking midfield berths. The main team news is that Petr Cech keeps out Tibaut Courtois, the latter having recovered enough from a thumb injury to make the bench. Otherwise, this Chelsea side looks familiar and settled, with solidity from Nemanja Matic, creativity from Cesc Fabregas, Oscar, and Eden Hazard, and goals from Diego Costa. While Chelsea have been rampant for much of this season, Manchester City have slowly closing the gap on them and the Blues will look to maintain their momentum with what should be a fairly regulation visit to the Liberty. Chelsea subs bench: Courtois, Zouma, Ramires, Mikel, Schurrle, Salah, Remy. Chelsea starting XI (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa. Swansea subs bench: Tremmel, Amat, Emnes, Rangel, Bartley, Fulton, Barrow. Here are the teams. Swansea City starting XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianksi; Tiendalli, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Sigurdsson, Carroll; Dyer, Castro Oliveira, Routledge; Gomis.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:02:46 +0000
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