Chelsea began its English Premier League title defense with a red card for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea on a frustrating opening Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
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Chelsea instantly took the lead again though, with a Willian cross being deflected into his own goal by Federico Fernandez in the 30th minute.
Swansea have not faired much better than Mourinho’s men in pre-season, having recorded four draws against the likes of Borussia Monchengladbach, Reading, Nottingham Forest and Deportivo La Coruna respectively and a sole victory 2-1 over 1860 Munich.
“Today for 90 minutes we were excellent”, Swansea manager Monk, whose side finished eighth last season, told Sky Sports.
Jose Mourinho is confident back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic will shine at Manchester City next weekend, rejecting the notion that Chelsea would miss Petr Cech. Then, asked whether he planned to speak to the referee privately about it, Mourinho just laughed and said, “For what?” We’ve got two tough away games now.
An early header from Gomis flashed across the face of Courtois’s goal to confirm the visitors’ threat.
Courtois’s ill-judged challenge on Bafétimbi Gomis that earned the keeper a 52nd-minute red card and conceded the penalty from which Gomis levelled inevitably changed the momentum of the game.
“The boy is trying hard but he has a problem against Barcelona, the next day the scans show there is no injury so the next day he trains but the next day he is not comfortable and 24 hours before the game we don’t know if he plays or doesn’t play“, lamented the manager. “To play 35 minutes with one player less in the first match of the season where the condition and the sharpness is not at the top is even more hard”.
“And it’s always good when you are in as a new player, in a new league, even though you have obvious qualities, to get that first goal”.
Ayew was Swansea’s marquee signing of the summer, arriving on a free transfer from Marseille with a stellar goal-scoring reputation and global experience.
“I do not think that Chelsea and put in the kind of dazzling that it was produced at the beginning of last season, especially with Diego Costa by the performance”.
“We played very well in the first half, the game was under control and the players were playing with more and more confidence”, he said. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. There were periods where we had to defend well, but the best chances fell to us and we got the result we deserved.
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“He’d had a knock, he was very exhausted and my medical department in their impulse were naive and left me with eight outfield players, and in a counter-attack after a set piece we were with two players less”.
