Bony-Less Swans Face Tough Task Against Chelsea

Swansea City have gone off the boil somewhat after failing to record a Premier League victory in three games. The side will, however, have to correct this run at home to the competition`s title favourites Chelsea, who sit top of the division despite having lost to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on New Year`s Day.

The Swans followed up twin 1-0 wins against Hull City and Aston Villa with a 4-1 defeat away at Anfield. Alberto Moreno broke the deadlock for Liverpool with the only goal of the first half before Adam Lallana scored the first of his brace to go 2-0 up. Icelandic Swansea star Gylfi Sigurdsson halved the deficit though this lasted less than ten minutes as Lallana scored the second of his double and Jonjo Shelvey contributed an own-goal against his former team.

January saw Garry Monk`s men travel to QPR`s Loftus Road and his team got off to a terrible start by conceding in the first 20 minutes, Leroy Fer putting Rangers one to the good. Swansea knocked at the door and eventually equalised through now Manchester City star Wilfried Bony.

The side`s Liberty City Stadium clash against West Ham United also ended 1-1, though the team had to rely on Hammers` Mark noble to level up following Andy Carroll`s opener.

Despite this downturn in results, the Swans have scored in all of their last 12 games in all competitions, the Welsh club also sticking six past League 2 Tranmere Rovers in their 6-2 FA Cup victory on the road. Bafetimbi Gomis was the star of that night, serving up two of the six efforts.

Though this looks good for those backing both teams to score at 13/11 with 888sport and unibet, the sale of top scorer Bony must be behind the bookies decision to take on this market with `both teams to score - no` being available at 17/20 with betfair.

Gomis is 15/4 (888sport, unibet) to hit the back of the net at any time tomorrow.

Champions elect Chelsea have lost twice on their travels in their last five league matches away from Stamford Bridge.

The first of these defeats came away at Newcastle when Didier Drogba`s late goal was a mere consolation in the face of two earlier on-target strikes from Papiss Cisse.

Jose Mourinho`s men`s second defeat away from home was that New Year`s hammering at the hands of Spurs, Chelsea going down 5-3 against the Champions League hopefuls. Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and John Terry were the three players who struck lucky for the top of the table team but to no avail.

Chelsea have only failed to score once this season in all competitions, this coming in a goalless draw against Sunderland in the league eleven games ago. They can be backed at 11/4 with Coral to score over 2.5 goals.

It is the away side who are the strong favourites to take all three points with most bookmakers offering odds of 4/7 on a Chelsea win. Six to one with a number of bookies says that Swansea will see the Blues off empty handed whilst it`s 16/5 (bet365, betfair) for the spoils to be shared.

In team news, the Whites will be without Jonjo Shelvey who serves a suspension but will see the welcome returns of both Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jefferson Montero after their respective injuries kept them on the sidelines.

Ki Sung-yueng, the Swans scorer against Hull, misses out due to international obligations with South Korea.

Petr Cech is expected to keep his place in the Chelsea line-up despite first-choice `keeper Thibaut Courtois recovering from his broken thumb, though Cesar Azpilicueta (groin) misses out.

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16/01/2015     © Frixo 2026