Swansea vs Chelsea match report: Brilliant Blues blow Swans away as Diego Costa and Oscar score two each in five-star performance
Swansea 0 Chelsea 5: Mourinho gives referees a rest from his tongue-lashings as he hails his ‘perfect’ side, who smash five as a Bony-less Swansea shoot themselves in the foot
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.This was a day when Chelsea took all their frustration out on the opposition, rather than Jose Mourinho taking his anger out on referees. So, one of the most tiresome stories of the season at least culminated in one of its most thrilling displays.
Chelsea didn’t need any refereeing decisions, about which Mourinho has been complaining, to go their way. Swansea were already gifting them gfoals, and the league leaders were in the mood to take full advantage.
Mourinho described his team’s performance as “perfect”. “Everything went in our direction,” he said.
That was the case from the start. Oscar gave them the lead after just 48 seconds, and both he and Diego Costa scored twice each to make it 4-0 before half-time. Perhaps this kind of response is the real point of Mourinho’s regular diatribes, to create the siege mentality that produces such searing brilliance.
Beyond that, though, this was a re-assertion of their quality. Over the past few months, the feeling has grown that Manchester City have become the form team while Chelsea have seemingly suffered from fatigue.
There was no evidence of that at the Liberty Stadium. Chelsea were back to their best, even if Swansea gave Mourinho’s side the freedom to express themselves. As atrocious as the home side were as they committed a string of individual errors, the visitors’ execution of their chances was exquisite. Within seconds of the start, Gylfi Sigurdsson’s attempt at a back-pass deflected off Tom Carroll and Oscar duly drove the ball in from distance to make it 1-0.
Chelsea were purring, for what felt like the first time since all the “Invincible” talk back in November. There was no clearer example of that than the brilliant second goal. Cesc Fabregas exchanged passes with Willian before threading the ball through for Costa to drive past Lukasz Fabianski from about 10 yards out. This was, in every sense, a fantastic return to form.
“It was the way we play,” Mourinho enthused. “I was on the bench saying that they were similar goals in terms of principles as the one we scored against Burnley in the first game of the season. The team are playing with high quality and I’m not saying it for the first time, but the team have a clear identity of playing.
“The team, I think all season, are trying to go in a certain direction.”
The game continued in one direction, with Chelsea trampling all over Swansea in triumphant fashion. On 34 minutes, Costa took advantage of a calamitous Federico Fernandez back-pass to slide the ball in for the third before, less than two minutes later, cutting the ball back to Oscar so the Brazilian could loop in his second and Chelsea’s fourth.
As excellent as Mourinho’s side were, though, even the Portuguese admitted it mostly stemmed from one area: Swansea were missing much more than Manchester City-bound Wilfried Bony. The home side were also missing most of their first-choice midfield, and the league leaders exploited those weaknesses.
“To play without [Jonjo] Shelvey, [Leon] Britton and Ki [Sung-yueng] is the same as for us to play without Fabregas, [Nemanja] Matic and [John Obi] Mikel and obviously that area of the pitch is important for them,” Mourinho said. “They are a team who want to play football, want to play from the back. When you don’t have the players of this dynamic, it’s a problem for them. We were clever, pressed them in that area, won possession there, were aggressive. We killed the game in the first half.”
Swansea manager Garry Monk said he apologised to Mourinho for not being able to give him a game after Andre Schurrle had come off the bench to make it 5-0 after another flowing move late on. The Portuguese said he was happy with that.
The pressure is back on Manchester City today, rather than just referees.
Swansea City: (4-3-3) Fabianski; Tiendalli, Williams, Fernandez, Taylor; Sigurdsson, Carroll, Oliveira (Fulton 66); Dyer (Barrow 73), Gomis, Routledge (Emnes 32).
Chelsea: (4-2-3-1) Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Luis; Matic, Fabregas (Ramires 73); Willian (Schurrle 76), Oscar, Hazard; Costa (Remy 73).
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Man of the match: Costa (Chelsea)
Match rating: 7/10
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments