Even the most ardent Swansea fan would not have believed that their Saturday afternoon clash against Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge, would be termed as a "top of the table clash".
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However, three games into the English Premier League season, the Blues find themselves facing second-placed Swansea, in their fourth match. Experts had predicted the Welsh outfit to do well this season, with Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson returning to the club, after a rather unsuccessful spell at Spurs. However, nobody expected them to be this far up the table.
"I would have expected them [Swansea] to have six-seven points – not nine [at this stage of the season]," said Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho, at a press conference. "But everybody knows that in the Premier League any result can happen, and they had a surprise result in the opening game of the season at Old Trafford [against Manchester United]."
Although Mourinho went on to say that the Swans have had a couple of results that they were not expected to have, he did agree that they have performed well to be at the top of the league at this moment.
There is, of course, the odd sceptic, who believes that the table could be misleading at this stage of the season, and that Swansea's early impressive push at the top, could soon fade out into mediocrity. The general consensus seems to be that Swansea would be a match for even the toughest teams in the league this season.
Chelsea, on the other hand, seem to have made the best start to the season, winning all their games. This Chelsea side looks to be a bit different from the ones we have seen in the past years.
They seem to be giving a lot more importance to their attack, rather than their backline. Of course, their defence has more-or-less remained the same, with John Terry and Gary Cahill taking the centre, and Braislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta manning the flanks, but it is their midfield, which has made the real difference.
The holding midfield role has seen a big change, with Nemanja Matic providing cover to the back-four, instead of John Obi Mikel. Matic is technically much more accomplished than his Nigerian counterpart, and can lend a lot more to the attack, with his playmaking abilities.
The Serbian midfielder would, of course, have his work cut out, as he would have the task of containing Swans midfielder Sigurdsson. The Iceland international seems to have left all his bad form at White Heart Lane, as he started his second spell at the Welsh club with the same dynamism, as his first.
Another interesting battle in the middle of the park would be Spaniard Cesc Fabregas vs South Korean Ki Sung-Yueng. The Korean midfielder has made six tackles, five clearances and six interceptions in the last couple of games, and will constantly look to break up Chelsea's forays into the Swans' goal.
He can also lend himself in attack, as he demonstrated quite well when he scored against Manchester United at the Old Trafford in the opening game of the season. As Fabregas is Chelsea's chief playmaker, it would be of paramount importance for Ki to stop him.
Diego Costa has been instrumental for the West Londoners this season, scoring four goals in three Premier League appearances. With his arrival, the Blues feel that they finally have a striker, who can play the target man and hold up the ball, a system that they have always played with, before Didier Drogba left.
However, Costa has had his injury troubles, and was recently sidelined from the Spain squad, because of a hamstring injury. It is not clear yet, whether he would start the game or not. Manager Jose Mourinho said that he would only take a call on the former Athletico Madrid striker before the game. Should Costa not be fit, it would either be Loic Remy or Drogba who starts.
