Cesc Fabregas’s early goal was all that Chelsea needed to overcome stubborn Swansea City in their Premier League encounter at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, April 28.
The midfielder grabbed the only goal in the 4th minute to hand his side the maximum points after benefiting from an Eden Hazard’s cross from the wing.
Though they have lost the EPL title to Manchester City, the London club will hope they can finish among the top four teams to participate in the Champions League next season as they are currently 5th on the table.
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Antonio Conte’s men got started on a bright note with a couple of moves from the Blues attackers, and just four minutes into the game.
After taking the lead in less than five minutes, the visitors team continued to mount pressure on their hosts with a bid to add to their tally, but an Eden Hazard’s shot was blocked by the Swans in the 13th minute.
Despite trailing by one goal, the hosts grew in confidence as the game progressed, and they were able to pull some passes together, but their efforts to ensure they level up as Connor Roberts header assisted by Martin Olsson was cleared by the Blues defence.
The Stamford Bridge outfit in their search for more goals saw Nigeria’s Victor Moses press forward but his shot at goal was superbly deflected by the home team’s defence.
Swansea are just one step away from the relegation zone and a win for them would have pushed them to some level of safety as the season is gradually winding down.
But, they were just unlucky as the Blues were able to soak all the pressure from their attack and launch a counter attacking move in the process.
Carlos Carvalhal made some tactical changes to his team in the second half with the hope of overturning result but the Blues were well grounded to defend their one goal lead all the way.
Antonio Conte also introduced Willian in place of Eden Hazard, while Pedro Rodriguez replaced the goalscorer in the 81st minute of the encounter.
The visitors had six shots on target at the end of the game and converted just one while the hosts had lesser impact on their opponents and were not able to record any goal.
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Source: Naija.ng