Blues shoot down Swans to go 11 points clear

A goal keeping howler by Lukasz Fabianski in the 72nd minute gave Chelsea‘s Pedro the opportunity to come back into the game.

Antonio Conte says he is haunted by the Devon Loch moment from his playing days which caused him not to sleep for six nights, but he is confident his Chelsea team will not lose their focus in the pursuit of the Premier League title.

Chelsea almost restored their lead after 52 minutes as Hazard picked out Fabregas, who rattled the crossbar from close range. Swansea were ever since struggling to have a look-in into the early stages of the match. Hazard’s cross runs to Fabregas just inside the box and he sends a shot crashing off the bar.

Cesc Fabregas celebrating his goal.

Conte’s charges were in full control as the likes of Fabregas, Pedro and Eden Hazard were stamping their authority on the encounter.

Costa has scored eight goals in five games versus Swansea. The leaders had hoped to add the Spain global, who worked under Conte at Juventus, to their own ranks as a back-up for Diego Costa. Chelsea’s high pressure even nearly resulted an own goal from Fabianski.

Stamford Bridge holds special memories for Paul Clement, but he will put nostalgia to one side when Swansea City face leaders Chelsea. Meanwhile Diego Costa has an fantastic strike rate against Swansea.

“For this reason, I’m lucky to have a lot of players who, in the past, won a lot”. The Spaniard was unstoppable on his determined effort to get Chelsea up by two, which seemed closer and closer to happening.

But Fernando Llorente equalized for Swansea on the stroke of half time with a powerful header following a wonderful through ball.

He has now had a hand in 10 goals in his last nine games, with crucial goals against Burnley and Wolves ensuring that his side remain favourites in the hunt for both the FA Cup and Premier League. “But they always evolve and invest and, when you get good managers and good players, it is a good mix”.

He almost repeated the trick ten minutes later after a scuffed Costa shot found Moses, whose cross was plucked from the sky by Fabregas’s right boot only for Fabianski to produce an acrobatic save to keep it at 1-0.

The Blues now only need 29 more points to become champions of England.

“N’Golo Kante is the best in the world right now”.

Speaking to Chelsea’s website, Fabregas said: “To be honest, I feel humbled and very proud”.

Chelsea team celebrating the regained lead.

Nathan Dyer’s Achilles injury he picked up during the first half against Leicester rules him out for the end of the season.

Referee Neil Swarbrick dismissed the appeals and Clement did not approach him about the decision afterwards. Until then, the Blues had been more than good enough to be confident in an easy win, supremely assured off the ball and constantly threatening a stretched Swansea defence.

Do I honestly believe we can beat Man City? Yes.

Pedro was soon later subbed off, and replaced by Nemanja Matic as Conte looked to set more defensive set-up to protect the regained lead.

Diego Costa followed in his colleagues footsteps taking the home side’s third of the game.

“Thirteen [remaining] games is an enormous space of time and 39 points”, Conte said.

Left-back – Martin Olsson: Since arriving in January, Olsson has brought a solidity to the back four that could keep the Swans in the Premier League.