Chelsea vs Swansea Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Chelsea will look to tighten their grip at the top of the Premier League table when they entertain Swansea City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon. 

The Blues head in to the weekend action sitting eight points clear at the top of the table after reaching the 60 point mark with a 1-1 draw at Burnley two weeks ago.

Only two sides [Newcastle and Arsenal] have had 60 points or more after 25 games and not gone on to win the title so the signs are looking good that Chelsea will go on to reclaim the trophy this season.

However, Antonio Conte is urging his players not to lose focus and the Italian coach will be desperate to collect all three points while rivals like Manchester City and Arsenal don’t play this weekend.

But that won’t be an easy task as they face a rejuvenated Swansea side that have won three of their last five games under new boss Paul Clement which has seen them move four points above the relegation zone.

Betting Tips

Chelsea are the 1/4 favourites with Betfair but you can use online bookie software to analyse the market and see if you can get better odds elsewhere. We nailed our prediction of 2-0 with Pedro as first goal-scorer in the Wolves game last weekend so hopefully some of you got on that bet. This week, I like the look of Chelsea to win at the exact score of 2-0 again which is available at odds of 5/1 but if you want even better value then throw in Eden Hazard as first goal-scorer for very tempting odds of 12/1.

Team news

Conte has confirmed that he has no fresh injury worries and has a fully fit squad to choose from for the visit of Swansea tomorrow.

That means Thibaut Courtois has recovered from illness while David Luiz is fit to play despite on-going concerns over a niggling knee injury.

Chelsea are expected to recall a number of players with the likes of Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, Marcos Alonso, N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic all set to come back in to the side after being rested for the FA Cup win at Wolves last weekend.

Swansea hope to have Leon Britton back from injury while Luciano Narsingh and Jordan Ayew are pushing for starts. However, Nathan Dyer, Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-Young remain sidelined.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-0 Swansea: The Blues have been in formidable form for the past four months and although Swansea look a different side under Clement, I just can’t see past a routine win for Chelsea. The visitors will put up a good fight, but I’m backing the hosts to ease to a 2-0 win.