CHELSEA vs SWANSEA PREVIEW

Garry Monk believes "powerhouses" Chelsea will take some stopping this season ahead of Swansea City's trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Swansea and Jose Mourinho's side have made perfect starts to the new Premier League campaign and are the only teams to have won the opening three matches.

While Monk's Swansea side were not expected to be early front-runners, leaders Chelsea were installed as title favourites following a spending spree that saw the likes of Spain duo Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas arrive at the London club.

Striker Costa has wasted no time in making an impact in English football, scoring four goals in his first three Premier League games, and he struck twice as ruthless Chelsea fired a warning to their rivals by hammering Everton 6-3 at Goodison Park last time out.


Monk is not surprised to see Chelsea hit the ground running, but believes his in-form side are capable of bringing them back down to earth this weekend.

"They are one of the powerhouses of the league," Monk said. "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.

Monk insisted on Thursday that he had no problem with Mourinho after the former Real Madrid coach did not shake his hand following Chelsea's 1-0 win at the Liberty Stadium in April.

The Welsh club have not beaten Chelsea in a league encounter since 1981 and Mourinho will be confident of extending that run on Saturday.

Costa's fitness will be assessed after the striker pulled out of the Spain squad to face Macedonia due to a hamstring injury and Eden Hazard (Achilles) will also be monitored. Loic Remy could make his debut following his move from QPR.

Swansea will be without midfielder Leon Britton due to a knee injury and it remains to be seen whether Marvin Emnes returns to the squad after a knee problem.