Relegation battlers take on top-four hopefuls

Swansea City host Chelsea on Saturday evening knowing that a win would be a big step to securing their Premier League status.

But after it looked like their season would end with a whimper, Chelsea now have plenty to play for. Antonio Conte’s side are in the FA Cup final and they could still claw their way back into the Champions League spots.

A win here would take them just two points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth, having played a game more.

There could be drama at the Liberty Stadium and the Coral News Team have all the pre-match info…

Head to Head

Despite their struggles in recent years, Swansea haven’t lost either of their last two home clashes against Chelsea.

In fact, since Swansea won promotion to the top flight in 2011/12, Chelsea have only won two of their seven games at the Liberty Stadium in all competitions.

The Swans will do well to get anything out of this one though. They’re on a run of six games without victory.

Likely XIs

Tammy Abraham can’t play against his parent club, so Jordan Ayew is set to start up front for the hosts.

Federico Fernandez may not recover from injury in time to start. Rather than draft another defender in, Carvalhal could look to condense the midfield with Sam Clucas.

Conte’s main selection dilemma will be over who to pick up front for the visitors. Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata both scored in last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final win. Giroud may get the nod from the start again.

Key Battles

As ever when facing Chelsea, Swansea will need to find a way to keep Eden Hazard quiet. That’s easier said than done though. One way could be to press Cesc Fabregas and try to deny the Belgian service.

If Swansea are going to get anything out of this, they’ll need to make the most of the ball when they have it. Ki Sung-Yueng and Tom Carroll will be vital in that regard.

Chelsea will want their wing-backs to stretch the play and create space for the attacking players to exploit.

Match Odds

Chelsea are 1/2 favourites here. Swansea are out at 6/1, with the draw going for 16/5.

Swansea have fired a blank in four of their last six outings. Chelsea to Win to Nil is 13/10.

The Blues could get amongst the goals though. They’ve scored at least twice in each of their last three games. Chelsea and Over 2.5 Goals is 7/5.

Giroud and Morata are both 7/2 to score First and 7/5 to score Anytime, respectively.

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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing