I don't think I am necessarily being deafeatist when I say that there is little doubt that Chelsea will finish above us this season but it doesn't half feel good to know that this afternoon we will go head to head with them as the only two sides in the Premier League with a 100% record.
Three straight league wins for both sides mean that today sees the two form teams in the division facing each other with at least one of the perfect records ready to depart this afternoon. All bookies will tell you that it will be Chelsea's record that retains intact come the end of the afternoon but as anyone who watched Jack to a King yesterday will tell you then nothing Swansea City does will conform with the odds offered by bookies and the day after the film was released then it would just be fitting to upset the apple cart once again.
Ever since we have reached the Premier League we have battled against the odds and in the three and a bit years we have been here we have secured wins at the Emirates, Anfield, Old Trafford (twice), Stamford Bridge and of course Wembley and Valencia to boot as well. Therefore there is no reason why we cannot go ahead and secure another win despite a Chelsea side that are clear favourites to win the Premier League title this season.
Of course to get that win then we are going to need to be at the top of our game and hope that Chelsea are not at the top of theirs but there is no reason to go to the game expecting to be beaten and I hope that Garry Monk is telling his team just that. We have already secured a win at Old Trafford this season to kick start our perfect start and there is no reason why we cannot go to Chelsea and secure exactly the same thing but we have to believe that we can do it.
The challenge for us in this game will be the opening fifteen to twenty minutes where I expect us to have to endure some serious Chelsea pressure so it will be up to our defence to stand strong at that point in time and keep them at bay and the longer we can do that the more they could get frustrated by what is happening on the pitch and that is where we could pull off the shock.
It will be interesting to see how the team lines up this afternoon. Both Ki and Wilf have had long trips for internationals over the past few weeks and that could open a door for the likes of Tom Carrol and Bafetimbi Gomis for a potential start after fielding the same team for the three league games to date.
I am not sure personally that this one is for Carrol but I can certainly see first league starts for Gomis and possibly even Federico Fernandez as predicted in our If you were Garry feature.