8 Things Swansea Fans Learned From 2-2 Vs Chelsea
The early signs are there for another productive season.
Swansea were desperately unlucky not to come away from Stamford Bridge with 3 points, as they impressed on the way to a 2-2 draw in their first Barclays Premier League game of the season.
Chelsea took the lead when Brazilian midfielder Oscar's free kick found its way into the net, Swansea keeper Lukas Fabianski will feel dissapointed not to have done better. Swansea debutant Andre Ayew calmly put the Swans back into the game, following up after Thibaut Courtois had made a good save from a Bafetimbi Gomis header.
Swansea weren't level for long however, when Willian's cross was cruelly deflected onto Federico Fernandez and into the net over Fabianski in the Swansea goal, just one minute after the Swans had equalised.
The game was turned on its head ten minutes into the second half. Jonjo Shelvey playing in Gomis, the Frenchman knicking the ball past Courtois forcing the Belgian to foul Gomis just inside the penalty box.
The Chelsea goalkeeper was red carded, and Gomis dispatched the penalty low to the left of substitute goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Despite having a one man advantage for over half an hour, Swansea couldn't find a winner. Jefferson Montero forcing Begovic into a good save towards the end, that was one of 10 shots on target by the Jacks.
Swansea couldn't muster a winner, but their fine form against the top four continued with a well deserved point against the reigning champions.
Here's 8 things we learned from the game...
8. Swans Can Only Get Stronger
There was only two debut's for Swansea at Chelsea, and one of them was a substitute, so there is still plenty of improvement for the Swans.
As mentioned earlier, Andre Ayew was very impressive on his debut, featuring for the full 90 minutes.
But we also saw a glimpse of Portuguese international striker Eder, who featured for the last 15 minutes.
With further strengthening expected, and debuts for Franck Tabanou and Kristoffer Nordfeldt to come, there is plenty room for optimism at the Liberty Stadium this season.
Who knows, with a couple of further additions Swansea may have to re-think their seasons expectations and targets...