The Swans had more shots on target than any team visiting Stamford Bridge since Opta started recording that stat back in 2003 which I think tells you much about how the game went and how the Swans approached the game.
Federico Fernandez had said in the week that we were not going there to park the bus and so it proved as we picked an attacking line up and took the game to Chelsea pretty much from the off and twice came from behind.
Had it not been for some good goalkeeping from Courtois and Begovic then it would have been far better for us with another famous win but on the evidence of today then it will be another brilliant season that sits ahead of us.
There was a surprise with team selection when Jack Cork was dropped to the bench for the season opener meaning that we had room for both Jonjo Shelvey and Gylfi Sigurdsson whilst there was a Premier League debut for Andre Ayew and also Jefferson Montero was handed a start.
And the presence of Montero I would imagine will give Ivanovic for weeks to come as he gave him the same treatment he gave Chambers of Arsenal last season and we know that he never recovered from that. The Chelsea full back had no answer for the Ecuadorian who took him on time and time again right from the very first minute.
Chelsea possibly started the brighter of the two teams and were in control of the game it felt when they took the lead although it can be classed as a little lucky as Oscar’s free kick worked its way through the Swansea defence and into the goal. It was one we should have defended but we didn’t and that is probably the biggest disappointment of the game for me.
The good news is though our heads didn’t drop at all and it was Montero leaving Ivanovic behind again that created the equaliser when he crossed in and Gomis header was saved by Courtois but the rebound was cooly finished off by Ayew for his first Swans Premier League goal.
The parity of the scoreline lasted less than two minutes though and if the first goal was a little lucky the second had the biggest dollop of luck any team could wish for. Willian hit a cross that deflected up off Fernandez and over Fab into the goal to restore the home side’s lead. They had scored twice from one shot on target, we had scored once from four, work out who was the better team.
The second half though was even more one sided as whatever Monk said at half time had an immediate effect as the Swans took control of the game completely. Shelvey had hit the post from a corner already by the time Gomis was sent through and upended by Courtois. it looked two close calls but replays showed he was onside and that it was in the area so the penalty was the right call. The red card probably was as well although you could see an argument for a covering defender but hey ho what are you going to do?
Gomis waited for the change of keeper to take place but sent the new arrival the wrong way to equalise the scores again. For 15 minutes after that Chelsea held on to such a level for the whole game that Fab really only had one save of note to make whilst both Chelsea keepers were kept busy by the Swans team although there was never a winner as it turned out.
We can take so many positives from this game it is not real and I am not sure that Steve McLaren will fancy bringing his Newcastle side to Swansea next week based on this performance. Fun times ahead.
Man of the match for me by about two country miles was Jefferson Montero
<#cfc #CHESWA>