Week 21

Chelsea are another Champions League stalwart whose hopes of a top 4 finish have diminished of late. Like Arsenal they have managed just 2 wins in their last 7 matches and have scored more than 1 goal in just one of those games. With Tottenham being the strongest team they've played in that run the calibre of opponent can not be held to account for this dip in form, 6 of those games were against teams outside the top 6.

Away fixtures against Norwich and Swansea may have looked like a good opportunity to carve out points and increase the 5 point gap between themselves, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool but after dropped points at Carrow Road last week it has only been a string of bad results for the chasing pack that has allowed the Blues to remain sitting fairly pretty in 4th even if there is now also a 5 point gap between them and the team above. It's the gap above rather than the gap below that will be a bigger concern for a team whose manager still speaks about Chelsea's title challenge as though The Premier League is a 4 horse race, still, stranger things have happened, like the consecutive clean sheets Chelsea have managed on just one occasion this season.

Their opponents Swansea really are a force to be reckoned with when playing at home. Having defeated Arsenal 3-2 in their last game at The Liberty they have maintained a record of having lost just once at home this season and still have the best home defence in the league with just 6 goals conceded in 11 games. With the way they retain possession (with an average of 59% at home so far this season) and move the ball around, they have the potential to cause Chelsea's "red sea" defence all sorts of problems and a home win in this fixture would come as no surprise for this excellent Swansea team, even if Chelsea were 4-1 winners when the sides met at Stamford Bridge.

The Blue's away defence is also amongst the best in the league and with two teams of this nature going head to head it could be a low scoring game won by the odd goal.

Whilst the stats suggest the game won't produce a thrilling volume of goals there should be plenty for technical lovers to feast on as Chelsea also rank amongst the teams with the highest average amount of possession from their games this season. With two teams that rarely give the ball away going head to head the deciding factor is likely to come down who makes the least mistakes, is more disciplined and prone to fewer lapses in concentration, on all 3 of those counts you'd have to back Swansea when playing at home so Chelsea could find themselves on the end of another eye brow raising result.