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Monk plays down Chelsea form

Chelsea had led at half-time courtesy of a somewhat fortuitous Oscar free-kick and a Federico Fernandez own goal either side of a composed finish from Swansea new boy Andre Ayew on his Premier League debut.

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Jose Mourinho’s men were leading 2-1 at Stamford Bridge when Courtois was dismissed for fouling Bafetimbi Gomis right on the edge of his area in the 52nd minute and the French striker scored the equaliser from the spot.

“I’ll be staying. The gaffer (coach Monk) has already said that”, Williams said.

Meantime Jose Mourinho refused to comment about Roberto Martinez this week. Torres would open the scoring for Chelsea before being shown a straight red card for a bad challenge on Mark Gower, whilst a brace from Ramires and Didier Drogba’s late strike secured victory on the day, despite Ashley Williams netting a consolation near the end.

“It’s protection for the club because players like him are assets, but the way I look at it is players sign these new deals because they have earned them and deserve them”, Swansea manager Garry Monk said.

“In my first period, my personal relationship (with Abramovich) was very good (but) professionally we had some interferences and a bit of a disagreement with some ideas”, Mourinho told Sky Sports News.

The place to go for goals was Leicester, where former Chelsea coach Ranieri made an ideal start to his return to the league after an 11-year absence. The fact that the Wales worldwide played in every minute of his 37 league appearances for the club – he missed the final day of the season defeat to Crystal Palace – is a measure of just how vital his presence and leadership is to the club’s progress. When we came here last year we did well for 45 minutes but today we were excellent for 90.

“I think It was a tough one; I am lucky that the guys are really cool”. “The players are ready to take our football on to another level”. And this season I’d also like to see a cup-run as the last couple of games of the season are too tiresome when you’re are safely in mid-table.

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“There are some more offensive, some more defensive and some have a mixture, and we will select the players in how we want to approach the particular games”. Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher grabbed second-half goals for Sunderland, while Marc Albrighton got Leicester’s fourth to seal the points.

Paul Harding  PA Wire

Swansea City's Neil Taylor in pre-season action