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Chelsea-Swansea City Preview

Chelsea will be hoping their midweek Champions League heroics will inspire their Premier League title challenge as they travel to the Liberty Stadium to play Swansea City on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea (22-6-5) came from 3-1 down on aggregate to progress to the Champions League semifinals with a late 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday. Substitutes Andre Shurrle and Demba Ba scored the goals, but captain John Terry insisted it was the preparation and tactical switches made by Mourinho that proved the difference.

"We worked a lot during the week on scenarios; 1-0, 2-0, 3-1," revealed Terry. "Demba comes on, we've hit the big man and he scores a great goal. Every scenario we had a gameplan and once again we got it right. This competition means a lot to us. The manager's been very successful.

"We've experienced it once and the disappointments over the years as well. It keeps you fighting and keeps you believing and that one time winning it, believe me, it's the best feeling ever."

Chelsea learned Friday they will face Spanish side Atletico Madrid in the two-legged semifinal starting April 22 in Spain for a spot in May's final in Lisbon.

Saturday's hosts Swansea City (8-9-16) have won just one of their last eight league games, leaving them with work to do to avoid the wrong end of the Premier League. The Swans are six points clear of the drop zone with five games remaining, but were beaten 1-0 by Hull City last weekend in a fixture that appeared to be a great opportunity to move towards top-flight status for another season.

"We'll make sure we get a reaction," said Swansea head coach Garry Monk. "You do that by making sure the players understand that performances like Hull cannot happen. We haven't got time to play like that in the situation we're in.

"To be fair to the boys, they have been good generally - they have trained well and the effort has been there. But Hull was a bit like West Brom, when we played well first half and then in the second we were very poor for some reason. That's why I keep talking about consistency. That's something we have to find."

Swansea have injury doubts over Kyle Bartley (hamstring), while Chelsea have concerns over the fitness of Terry (ankle) and Eden Hazard (calf).

The Swans have kept just three clean sheets in their last 24 league games, but have shut out their opponents every time they have won a game at home this season (five).

The Blues have not conceded more than once in any of their last 18 league matches, with their opponents scoring just seven times during that run. Chelsea's 15 clean sheets are a league high.

Mourinho's side won 1-0 when these teams met at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, with Hazard scoring the only goal of the game. The Swans have never won a top-flight game against Chelsea, losing three and drawing the remaining two of their five Premier League clashes.
 
Chelsea-Swansea City Preview Reviewed by Kratos Olympian on 15:30 Rating: 5

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