Having seized the initiative in the title race once more with a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, Jose Mourinho’s table-topping Chelsea side will head to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday knowing that victory will heap further pressure on title rivals Manchester City ahead of their game with Arsenal on Sunday.

With Gary Monk’s side taking 21 of their 30 points at home this season, it looks a tall order for the visitors on paper , but that should be tempered by the fact that of Swansea’s six home wins, five have come against sides that currently occupy the bottom third of the table, with the 2-1 victory over Arsenal the only exception.

Indeed, Swansea have generally struggled against the better teams at home this season – both Southampton and Tottenham have won at the Liberty and Newcastle and West Ham have each taken a point – and this goes some way to explaining why the Swans have been priced up at odds as long as 6/1 to win in some places.

Furthermore, the home side will be without the services of their Premier League top scorer, Wilfried Bony, who recently completed a £28 million move to Manchester City. Instead they will have to rely on the striking talents of his replacement, Bafetimbi Gomis, who officially has just one league goal to his name so far despite playing a huge part in his side’s equaliser against West Ham last week.

The visitors, meanwhile, have lost just two games this season – and while both of those have come away from home, they have never lost at Swansea in the Premier League (one win, three draws). As such, they go into Saturday’s game as huge favourites at 8/13 (with the draw priced at 16/5) and are also 4/7 to win to nil, something that they have done in just under half of their games this season.

While the visitors did ship five in their last away game at Tottenham, the question marks over Gomis’ ability to lead the line successfully for the Swans make a repeat of such defensive frailties look unlikely and we can probably expect another workman-like victory for the Blues by under 2.5 goals, a margin which has settled 11 of their Premier League games this season and is available at 12/5.

In terms of picking a scorer for the visitors, striker Diego Costa has three goals in his last four games and is favourite to extend that run at 7/2 to get the first goal of the game, while captain John Terry has looked a real threat from set-pieces recently with two goals in his last three appearances away from home and is 8/1 to find the net at any time.

Five of Swansea’s six home wins this season have come against teams currently in the bottom third of the table.