Swansea V Chelsea @ Liberty Stadium
Saturday 17th January @ 3pm
Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions Chelsea cannot play well away from home in the Premier League.
Chelsea have only won once in their last five away from Stamford Bridge, a 2-0 victory at Stoke, having lost to Newcastle and Tottenham and drawing at Southampton and Sunderland.
Tomorrow they go Swansea hoping to increase their two-point lead at the top of the table, with Mourinho insisting the run of away games has been tough.
He said: “It’s been a really difficult period for us – Newcastle away, Tottenham away, Southampton away, Stoke away and now Swansea – we knew that would be very difficult to keep a run of consecutive victories.
“I think we showed clearly we do not have any psychological problems with the fact that the distance to Manchester City and Manchester United was reduced.
“We are not in trouble, we are in control of our emotions and we are ready for the second part of the season.”
Swansea manager Gary Monk is under no illusions to how tough Saturday’s fixture will be having lost star striker Wilfried Bony to Chelsea title rivals Manchester City earlier this week.
“It’s probably the strongest squad I have ever seen at Chelsea,” said Monk.
“They’re a fantastic team – exceptional, world class players all over the pitch. They have got an exceptional manager as well.
“At the start of the season I said they were my favourites to win the league and I still believe that, albeit they have got competition from teams around them.”
The defeats to Newcastle and Spurs are Chelsea’s only losses in their past 24 Premier League games and they have won their last four matches against the Swans.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Thibaut Courtois are likely to miss out, with Gary Cahill and Filipe Luis expected to return.
Ki Sung-Yeung, Jefferson Montero and Jonjo Shelvey are all unavailable, with Bafetimbi Gomis expected to lead the attack.
Star man: Diego Costa – The dominant striker scored a hat trick the last time these sides met.
Danger man: Gylfi Sigurdsson – the attacking midfielder is Swansea’s joint top scorer now Bony has left for Man City.
Last meeting: Chelsea 4-2 Swansea, Premier League, Stamford Bridge – 13th September 14
