Chelsea defend their 100% record against Swansea on Sunday, hoping to avoid a repeat of last season’s defeat at the Liberty Stadium. Here are five potential battles we think could be crucial to the result.
Playing in a more advanced role in boss Antonio Conte’s 4-1-4-1 formation, Matic will be pitched into a midfield tussle with former QPR man Fer, who has scored Swansea’s only two Premier League goals this season. Matic will be key to checking the Dutchman’s late runs, which have seen him net against Burnley and Leicester.
Summer signing Kante was outstanding in the home win over Burnley and will be tasked with preventing Sigurdsson from doing damage in the final third. Last season, the Iceland man – excellent at Euro 2016 – scored 11 league goals from midfield, including the winner against Chelsea in April.
At the other end of the pitch, Oscar will be hoping to repeat his two-goal performance in the 5-0 win at the Liberty Stadium in January 2015. He might come up against former Chelsea trainee Cork, who captained the Blues’ youth and reserve teams during a spell between 2006 and 2011.
This time last year, Swansea left-back Kingsley was lining up for loan club Crewe against Millwall in League One. On Sunday, he comes up against Chelsea’s reigning player of the year – but he won’t be overawed, having been part of a winning side at Arsenal on his Premier League debut in March.
David Luiz’s re-emergence at Stamford Bridge will put pressure on Cahill, who has already performed much better in the opening few games than he did last season. Former Athletic Bilbao and Juventus striker Llorente is yet to get off the mark for the Swans.
This post was last modified on 11/09/2016