Chelsea and Swansea City are playing live on the English Premier League schedule to start the EPL season and the match at Stamford Bridge for the Blues starts at 12:30 pm ET as Jose Mourinho and his club start their title defense and the match is on TV from NBC and streaming from the NBC Sports Live Extra website on Saturday.
The Blues come in after winning the title in dominating fashion last season and now they have the chance to go back to back. Diego Costa is dealing with some fitness issues and may not play after sitting out the match against Arsenal and now players like Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao could get a look. Jordi Amat will be out for the Swans and they come in after improving last year, but the team did give up nine goals last season in matches against the Blues.
Things should start in favor of the Blues, as the champions have not lost the opening game of the season in 23 years and they now have a chance to continue that. Chelsea has won eight of the last 10 matchups with Swansea and the team has lost all of their Premier League games at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea has a strong opening day record and they have not lost in over 10 years to kick things off and Jose Mourinho has never lost on opening day with Chelsea.
Last season the team got strong play from Costa and they are hoping that he can get back into form quickly. Swansea comes in after winning two of the last three times on opening day, but this should be much tougher this time around. Swansea had a strong season last slate and finished in eighth and put up their highest total of points and that should give the team a little confidence for the start of the season.
Chelsea swept the season series last season and they are looking to start off with a win here and the teams will play again in April. Swansea would be lucky to get a point here and the last time the team won over Chelsea in league play was a long time ago and Costa likely will be out with a hamstring issue. Mourinho just signed a contract extension and he appears content in his second run with the club after winning another title last season. The deal is through 2019 and comes after a nice run of success for the coach in West London.
Check here for the Chelsea and Swansea City live coverage from NBC.
