Jase

While Hazard may be a key player for us and one that can produce something out of nothing, it might actually be good in a way if he doesn't play (albeit due to injury only) as that would probably make us be less reliant on a player out there on the pitch.

You know, rather than just making vague and ambiguous statements like "Oscar is not good enough to start for us", "Oscar is not a World Class talent", "Player X is better than Oscar", it may be helpful to the discussion if you actually elaborate and give proper reasons as to why you say that. You are only making life difficult for yourself if you don't back up what you say with reasoning and even examples.

Well, I supposed they may well have done it later inside the stadium. It happens anyway. Not that I want to have doubts everytime someone post quotes and all that but it will be nice if a link is posted along with quotes and not just the latter alone..

Precisely why Liverpool can't win the title. The wankfest will just be ridiculous and you will see news, articles, headlines etc plastered everywhere!

The funny thing about that now is Pellegrini needs a favor from Mourinho to help City win the league title..

True but one could also argue that Sunderland are not the most defensively solid of teams and playing with a back 3/5 gives them that security. Keep it tight, defend, don't give chances away and then look to pinch something on the break.

One word. No. Mourinho only played him in the pivot today because Swansea were down to 10 men and just sat deep and defend. It was a risk taken but there wasn't any danger that our midfield was going to get overrun.

Agree with that. Ramires may have flaws, big flaws, in his game but he still has strengths that can be useful for us in certain matches and/or situations. He can be a useful squad player. Just don't understand why people always have to entertain ideas of selling a player the minute he becomes 'useless' (supposedly) or become replacable in the starting XI. Need variety, players of different attributes and depth in the squad to give us options.

Poyet has played with a back 3 recently away against Liverpool and Spurs. Suspect he will do the same here again (and against City in midweek).

Not sure what is 'big' about that. Mourinho tends to go off early in games anyway and in this case, he only went off when the referee blew the final whistle. As for no handshake, how sure are you he didn't shake the Swansea's coaching staff hands? Unless you have a proof that he didn't, sounds as though you are just basing this off when the camera just cut to him walking down the tunnel when 1-2 minutes after the game was over. There is no reason for Mourinho not to shake hands and especially when he has said he always do it at the start and end of games.

Mourinho is not doing the post-match press conference. Has asked Steve Holland to do it.

Think some are really exaggerating it when they say it was an awful performance. Granted, it wasn't the most brilliant or our best performance of the season but it was certainly better than what most are saying/thinking especially in the second half. Had we converted those chances and turn this into a 4/5-0 thrashing, people would have been saying it was a great performance.

Did alright today. Held up the ball well to bring others into play and combine with them and also showed good strength as well. Scored a decent goal (despite the small deflection) and probably unlucky not to score a few more.

His end product needs polishing but what I really like about his performances today was his off the ball movement. The number of times he made those penetrative runs, getting into space to combine with others and/or create chances was refreshing. Really not often we see the others do that for us.

Chelsea vs Sunderland PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT English Premier League 19th April, Saturday, 2014 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 1-2 Sunderland POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS English Premier League 19th April, Saturday, 2014 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

First half was rubbish but a much better performance in the second half. However, those missed chances were just criminal once again. Story of our season. This could have been a 4, 5, 6-0 thrashing of Swansea but only a 1-0 win in the end. Can't afford to keep chances like them against Liverpool, Atletico! Oh well. A win is a win and at this point of the season, 3 points is all that matter.

It would be 'disappointing' if goal-shy Chelsea pipped two more attractive teams, claims City boss Pellegrini

That's may well be true but what's more amazing is that most of the time, the players that got such treatment don't come out to talk about this situation in the media. Seems as though Mourinho is able to make them at least keep quiet even though he doesn't often play them.

Hmmm. Checked WhoScored and ESPN and they had Ramires on 8 YCs though Guardian stated 9. Well either way, hope he doesn't pick up any silly yellow cards within the next 2 games. Might well need him for the game at Anfield.

Ramires is only on 8 yellow cards, not 9. This is not aimed at you but I know Ramires hasn't always been great. However, wishing him to get suspended and/or miss games for us is absolutely pathetic, especially at this point of the season where we need everyone fit and available to be able to juggle between two huge competitions. Never know he could still provide some vital contributions in games when we least expect it.

There is no press conference for this game. Got cancelled apparently. Not sure why though.

Wahey! That actually happened!!

Swansea v Chelsea Match Preview

The Match Chelsea head to Wales on Sunday to face Swansea at the Liberty Stadium with the match set to kick off at 4.07pm UK time. The Blues will look to complete their first Premier League double over Swansea after a solitary goal from Eden Hazard gave his side a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day last year. Garry Monk’s side, however, will be keen to avenge that loss – especially after last weekend’s defeat at Hull - and steer clear of the relegation trapdoor as the season enters its final few weeks. The Swans are currently in 15th and sit 6 points clear of the bottom three and their form have been inconsistent throughout the course of the season winning just 6 of their first 24 Premier League games which saw Michael Laudrup sacked in early February. Things have not improved much under Monk with only 2 wins secured in 9 league games but the performances have been better – against Napoli, Liverpool and Everton - than the results suggested with only defensive errors costing them favourable results. Monk’s cause though will now be aided with the return of key players from injury in the likes of Michu, Jonjo Shelvey and Jonathan de Guzman as they bid to pick up yet another positive result against Chelsea in their home ground following two 1-1 draws in the previous two seasons. In contrast, Jose Mourinho’s men come into this game boosted by their comeback against Paris St. Germain in Europe on Tuesday and qualification for the semi finals. However, the London will be desperate to sort out the inconsistent league form of late having suffered shock defeats in the last 2 away games against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace. Those two setbacks have seen the Blues slipped into second place and trail Liverpool by 2 points at the top. With Manchester City travelling to Anfield tomorrow, Mourinho knows his side must take advantage of that clash and will be boosted by the recent form of lesser used players in Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah as Chelsea cannot afford anymore slip ups if they want to bring back the league title back to the capital. Team News Swansea Garry Monk has no injury concerns to his side for this game with the exception of Kyle Bartley and it means he will have a strong set of players to select from. Provisional Squad: Vorm, Tremmel, Taylor, Flores, Williams, Rangel, Canas, Cornell, Lamah, Britton, Hernandez, Dyer, Shelvey, Routledge, Tiendalli, De Guzman, Pozuelo, Vazquez, Richards, Bony, Michu, N’Gog and Emnes. Chelsea Eden Hazard will be unavailable for the Blues after picking up a calf injury against PSG while John Terry is rated doubtful for the clash with an ankle problem. On the positive side, Mourinho would be able to select Ramires once more after the latter served a three-match suspension following his red card against Aston Villa last month and Samuel Eto’o should be fit after having played the entire game in midweek. Provisional Squad: Cech, Schwarzer, Hilario, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Cole, Luiz, Kalas, Mikel, Matic, Ramires, Lampard, Ake, Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Salah, Eto’o, Torres and Ba. Stats and Facts 1. Chelsea have won 2 and drawn 3 of their 5 Premier League meetings against Swansea. 2. Chelsea have won 11 and drawn 1 of their last 12 Premier League games played on a Sunday and have won the last 9 in a row (via Opta). 3. Chelsea have lost their last 2 Premier League away games but Jose Mourinho has never suffered 3 consecutive Premier League away losses in a single season. 4. Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in their last 3 games against Swansea in all competitions – W2 D1. 5. Chelsea have scored four goals or more on four occasions this season with only Liverpool and Manchester City have achieved this more times – 11 and 10 respectively (via BBC). 6. Swansea have won 3 and lost only 1 of their last 5 Premier League home matches and kept a clean sheet in each of those wins. 7. All 5 of Swansea’s home league wins this season have come when they have kept a clean sheet (via BBC). 8. Swansea have already lost more games this season than ever before in a single Premier League season – 16 (via Opta). 9. ‘Own Goals’ is Swansea’s second top goalscorer this season with 8 goals with only Wilfried Bony has more – 11 (via Opta). 10. Swansea have won just 1 of their 10 Premier League games in April – D4 L5. Match Odds (Final Result/Full Time) Swansea WIN - 18/5 DRAW - 5/2 Chelsea WIN - 4/5 *Odds obtained from SkyBet* Match Coverage Depending on where you are from, you can watch the match in the following channels: United Kingdom: Sky Sports 1HD United States: NBC Sports Live Extra, NBCSN Middle East: beIN Sport Belgium: Sporting 1, Be Sport 1 India: Star Sports 4 India, Star Sports 3 India, Star Sports HD 2 India For additional regions, you can check out the TV schedule for the match here. There should be many match streams that can be found online if your local sports channels are not broadcasting the game or if you happen to be busy and cannot catch the game live, follow TalkChelsea on Twitter as it would provide live match commentary on the action. Click here to view the article