CHELSEA vs SWANSEA PREVIEW

Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of striker Diego Costa as they prepare to take on Swansea City in a top-of-the-table clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Costa was substituted midway through the second half of Spain's 1-0 friendly defeat to France with a hamstring problem and returned to the Blues' Cobham training centre earlier this week for further assessment.

On Friday Jose Mourinho is expected to provide an update on the condition of the Brazil-born Spaniard, who has lit up the Premier League since his summer arrival from Atletico Madrid with four goals in his first three matches. If Costa misses out, Mourinho could hand a debut to Loic Remy, recruited from west London neighbours QPR in a £10.5 million deal in the final days of the transfer window. Thibaut Courtois is also expected to keep his place in goal ahead of Petr Cech after signing a new five-year contract at Stamford Bridge this week.


But regardless who starts, Chelsea will be clear favourites to continue their 100 per cent start to the season against Swansea, who have also won each of their first three matches of the season.

"They are one of the powerhouses of the league," Swansea boss Garry Monk told reporters. "They have quality players over the pitch. When you analyse them, there are a lot more strengths than weaknesses.

"They can hurt you in many areas via different players. They'll be favourites for the title this season. But they'll be a good test for us.

"There's always a plan, every team in the world is beatable. We have to give our best performance in order to warrant winning any points.

"We have to go out there, be ourselves, be confident and hope it's good enough to get the points."

Swansea coasted to a 3-0 victory over West Brom prior to the international break and have kept three clean sheets in a row in all competitions, but have not beaten Chelsea in a league encounter since 1981.

The Welsh giants will be without midfielder Leon Britton due to a knee injury and it remains to be seen whether Marvin Emnes will return to the squad after a knee problem.