It’s back! The Premier League season returns this weekend to relieve every football fan of their boredom throughout the summer. However, amongst all of the Swansea fans’ excitement, we couldn’t have asked for a tougher start – away to the reigning champions.
Last season Chelsea ran away with the Premier League title, dominating the league in doing so. Summer signings of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were influential in winning the league as they were outstanding. John Terry, Nemanja Matic and Oscar were also great and of course I can’t not mention the player of the year Eden Hazard who was insanely good. Can Swansea keep him quiet on Saturday is the question?
After the Swans’ record-breaking season, Garry Monk will look to somehow build on an 8th place finish from last term. Improvement is definitely capable for Swansea, having kept many of our star players this summer. Ki Sung-Yueng was linked with Arsenal, Jonjo Shelvey was wanted by Spurs, Lukasz Fabianski was looked at by Roma and Ashley Williams has also been in high-demand. But thankfully, Swansea’s star performers have all declined moves away by stating that they want to stay in Wales – this shows just how much they value the club, and how Garry Monk has created a feel good factor in the camp. Along with the brilliant signings of Ghana international Andre Ayew and Portugal striker Eder, we’ve got ourselves an improved squad from last campaign. New left-back Franck Tabanou was another crucial signing, and he’s looked immense in pre-season. The Frenchman is definitely one to watch in the Premier League this year.
Now going into Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge, as much as I’m an optimist, I think the Blues will edge a win. Especially after Sunday’s loss against Arsenal in the Community Shield, Jose Mourinho will be vying to get back on track and three points on the weekend could give Chelsea the confidence they need after a demoralising loss to the Gunners. Although, a win will be much harder for Chelsea than the last time the two clubs went head-to-head. In January, the Blues hammered five past a very poor Swansea team, and that day was one to forget for any Swans fan. Having said that, Chelsea were unbelievable in that game and you could see just how worthy they were of being champions. Hazard, Oscar and Diego Costa were unplayable at the Liberty Stadium back then.
On Saturday we’ve got a fully-fit team, but back in January we were plagued with injuries; being forced to play Nelson Oliveira, Tom Carroll, Dwight Tiendalli and Gylfi Sigurdsson was pushed back to play in an unfamiliar defensive midfield role – it didn’t work out at all. This time around, we have a much stronger team to face the champions. Jack Cork, Ki, Jonjo Shelvey and Gylfi Sigurdsson make a brilliant midfield (although one of them will inevitably get dropped on the weekend), and up front we could use Bafetimbi Gomis, Eder or Andre Ayew. Wayne Routledge or Nathan Dyer on the right wing and Jefferson Montero on the left will give Branislav Ivanovic a horrid afternoon with his blistering pace and unpredictable trickery. Fabianski will be in goal, with Kyle Naughton, Federico Fernandez, Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor the likely defensive four.
It’ll be a hotly contested game, with the two sides playing decent football. But the quality of the Chelsea team will just grab three points in my opinion. Garry Monk and Jose Mourinho will give each other a tactically good battle, and prepare to see the ball in midfield for the majority of the game. Monk will make sure that Chelsea don’t supply the ball to Eden Hazard or Willian on the flanks. Final score, I’m going for a 1-0 Chelsea win, Radamel Falcao scoring – trust me, I think he’ll come good.
