EPL: Swansea face Chelsea test

Swansea City vs. Chelsea
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick off: 5:30PM

Swansea City welcome the visit of Chelsea to the Liberty Stadium as Carlos Carvalhal and company aim to hold their own ground just above the relegation zone during the final stages of the Premier League season.
Antonio Conte’s Blues have kept alive their faint hopes of a top-four finish and are now looking to keep up the pressure on fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with an away win in Wales.
The Swans have pulled off some impressive results since the turn of the new year and the arrival of coach Carvalhal has proven to be a defining moment in the club’s Premier League season.
The Portuguese coach has helped to guide the club to within touching distance of retaining their top-flight status – a prospect that had looked increasingly dim under the previous reign of Paul Clement.
Such has been the turnaround under Carvalhal, the club have been able to go without a win in five league games and still find themselves with a chance of staying up above Southampton, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion.
The Welsh side are four points clear of Mark Hughes and his Saints side in 18th place with four games remaining.
After Chelsea, Swansea face Bournemouth before two huge clashes against Southampton and Stoke and Carvalhal will probably fancy picking up at least six points from their remaining four matches.
Swansea have already beaten Liverpool and Arsenal this term.
A victory over Chelsea would see the team become the first side outside of the top six to win against those three clubs during the current campaign.
That said, City have produced just one victory in 13 Premier League matches against Chelsea.
The Swans have managed to stave off the Blues in their last two visits to the Liberty, where Swansea have managed to pick up a victory and a draw.
Heading into the game, however, Carvalhal’s men are winless in six across all competitions lately and have not been able to score in half of those games either.
The club are still in a promising position with four points to play with, although Carvalhal’s men need to find some confidence going forward quickly should they want to take full advantage of their run of games after welcoming Conte’s men.
Since being beaten at home by Spurs at the start of the month, Chelsea are unbeaten in three games in the league, drawing against West Ham and beating both Saints and Burnley in recent weeks.
Giroud’s goals off the bench have put more pressure on Spanish forward Alvaro Morata.
The 25-year-old has scored three goals in his last six appearances in all competitions, which represents as many as he had in his previous 22 for Chelsea.
Conte will be hoping that those statistics suggest a return to form for the Spain international, who has struggled in the second half of the season.

Swansea possible XI: Fabianski, Naughton, Hoorn, Mawson, Olsson, A. Ayew, King, Ki Sung-yueng, Carroll, Clucas, J. Ayew.
Chelsea possible XI: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Rudiger, Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Emerson; Hazard, Willian, Giroud.