Chelsea 2-2 Swansea City

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Match Summary

Chelsea start their title defence in shaky fashion as ten-man Blues were held at home by Swansea.

Oscar has given Chelsea their first goal, in a season with much to prove for him, but Swansea hit back with Ayew, even though Chelsea regained the lead seconds later. Gomis levelled from the penalty spot after Courtois has been sent off and the points were shared.

Whilst it may look like a bad start for the current champions and a good point for the visitors based on the score-line, the statistics tell you much different, for Swansea had 18 shots and 10 on target, to Chelsea’s three on target.

The Blues had most definitely not shaken off their pre-season wobbles, but took the lead with Oscar’s free-kick.

Ayew stabbed home after Courtois had produced a good save from Gomis, but their joy was short-lived with Chelsea scoring another, after good work from Willian. It would eventually go down as a Fernandez own goal.

The game changed in the 54th minute. Willian was caught sleeping as he failed to hold the defensive line and when Gomis took the ball around Courtois, all it needed was slight contact for a penalty and red card. Both were debateable — it looked like the contact was on the edge of the area for the former and Cahill was covering for the latter — but Gomis made the most of his situation, where Begovic could not.

Despite being in a numerically-advantageous position for more than half an hour, the score-line remained at 2-2. Falcao’s introduction and Costa’s presence bore little fruit and the defence looked suspect, so it will seem to be two early points dropped for the hosts.

Man of the Match

OSCAR: Much is to be expected of this man, who ultimately showed the door to Juan Mata, and after a largely effective but not eye-catching spell at Chelsea so far, this must be a break-through season for the 23-year-old. Scored the game’s early goal to get Chelsea rolling and caused Swansea problems, but unfortunately for him he was the man sacrified for Courtois’ red card. 7/10

Manager Reaction

Mourinho was buoyant but not in whinging mood: “They didn’t have chances against 11. The team was playing very, very well in the first half. In the second half, in one minute, it was a penalty, red card and the goal – 2-2. I would say we were the best team with 11 players and with 10 we fought hard, some fighting at the limit of their condition.”

Monk was happy with his team’s season starter: “I thought our performance warranted at least that point. We went for it and showed our attacking prowess.”