It’s not looking so FAB for Swans now
CESC WINNER PUTS PRESSURE ON WELSH SIDE IN DROP ZONE
HALF-CENTURY notches on the goalpost for Antonio Conte and Cesc Fabregas – but this victory served to remind that the deposed champions are only half as good as last year.
Fabregas scored his 50th Premier League goal and Conte earned his 50th win in the competition – the third quickest manager to reach that mark after Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.
It was a result that keeps alive Chelsea’s hopes of climbing past Spurs or Liverpool to claim a Champions League place – and increases Swansea’s relegation fears.
But it was not to the standard of last season and light years from the destruction inflicted on the Swans by new champions Manchester City.
Fabregas’ goal was of the early and soft variety and the Swans had enough chances to have snatched at least a point, with both Tom Carroll and Andre Ayew going close.
Ayew’s brother Jordan got into a spat with Gary Cahill after a late clash left the Chelsea skipper on the deck, but Swansea had needed that fighting spirit much earlier in the game.
They now lead Southampton by only a point and a crunch battle looms against the Saints. Chelsea went ahead with a goal of stunning simplicity and alarming ease for some of the Swans fans, who were still taking their seats in the fourth minute.
Andy King let the ball roll out of reach, leaving Eden Hazard to skip around a statuesque Ki Sung-yueng and nudge a pass into the path of Fabregas, who curled the ball beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
It was the kind of cheap, early goal managers hate to concede and Swans boss Carlos Carvalhal looked disgusted.
It was the Spaniard Fabregas’ first goal since August and signposted a dangerous warning that both he and Hazard were very much in the mood to extend their team’s recent good run.
Swansea’s work was more basic, with their best early opportunity coming when Martin Olsson’s swinging cross was met by Connor Roberts, although the full-back’s header went vertical.
Further alarm was caused by Chelsea from Olivier Giroud’s aerial threat moments later and defender Alfie Mawson’s misplaced clearance skimmed the top of his own crossbar.
Chelsea looked comfortable, but, instead of going full throttle for a second goal, they allowed Swansea to gain more possession as the first-half progressed – a feature of their lack of ruthlessness in this campaign. Conte’s men were also grateful for some strange calls in their favour from referee Jonathan Moss, including his view that Jordan Ayew had committed a foul by allowing himself to be hacked down by N’golo Kante on the edge of the Chelsea box.
Chelsea still looked sluggish after the break and, when Olsson whipped in a cross, Andre Ayew just failed to meet it cleanly enough to claim an equaliser.
It should have been something to build on for the Swans, but their possession lacked punch.
Giroud sent a header on target that Fabianski saved and Emerson also tested the keeper before Swansea next went near after a run to the byline by Dyer.
But the home side’s best chance came in the 76th minute when Andre Ayew made room for himself on the edge of the box, rounded Cahill, but curled his shot wide of the far post.
Chelsea were rocking and, within a minute, they were appealing for a penalty when Cahill lunged at Dyer, although it appeared the Blues skipper had taken a chunk of the ball before landing on the Swans player’s foot.