Chelsea 1 Swansea 0: Antonio Rudiger secures points after Antonio Conte is sent to the stand
ANTONIO CONTE gave a couple of his stars a night off but it did not mean the rest of them could sleepwalk to victory.
With the exception of keeper Lukas Fabianski, Swansea were so awful it should have been a tougher task sitting on the bench than tearing them to shreds.
Antonio Rudiger scored the only goal as Chelsea defeated Swansea.
Yet Chelsea made terribly hard work of it until Antonio Rudiger finally put the ball in the back of the net to maintain the champions' momentum in their bid to keep pace with Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Even then, it took a lucky deflection off the head of City striker Wilfried Bony to put the chance his way for the defender to score his first league goal for the club since signing in the summer.
On a frustrating night for Chelsea on many levels, they missed a series of much easier opportunities to put the result to bed with poor finishing and excellent keeping from Fabianski getting in the way.
Conte was also sent to the stands four minutes before half time for losing his rag over a disputed corner but you get the feeling Chelsea's fuming manager was actually taking out his frustrations with his players on the officials.
Antonio Conte was sent off from the touchline just before half time.
Conte gave several of his stars the night off, but his side struggled to find a way past the Swans.
By half time Chelsea had amassed six genuine attempts on goal with perhaps the closest of them all coming from Swansea defender Alfie Mawson, whose scuffed attempt to clear a cross from Willian rebounded off the back of his leg and skidded just past his own goal post.
It proved the flashpoint for the best action so far.
Conte was so incensed that ref Neil Swarbrick gave a goal kick instead of a corner that the Italian lost the plot.
He screamed in the face of Lee Mason, so close that the fourth official would have felt the Chelsea manager's hot breath on his face and the full force of his frustration.
It was way over the top and in Italian yet Mason was having none of it.
You do not need to be bilingual to get the jist of what furious Conte was banging on about.
Mason called immediately for Swarbrick to step in.
The ref pointed Conte to the stands, although the guilty man merely stomped off to sit a few rows behind his dugout – still hurling his heated opinion at the officials.
Well, if half the team were having the evening off, why not the manager? Assistant coach Angelo Alessio took over duties of shouting at the players from the technical area.
And they seemed to need a wake up call of some sorts.
Rudiger eventually found a way though as he headed home ten minutes after the restart.
Lukasz Fabianski was in stunning form in the Swansea net.
The Polish goalkeeper denied Chelsea on numerous occasions.
Despite dominating in every aspect of play Chelsea went in at half time goalless and as fed up as the manager.
Even without key players Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta who were on the bench, it was one way traffic, albeit at the speed of London rush hour.
With only 11 minutes on the clock Willian had taken the first shot at Swansea's goal.
His curling free kick from just outside the box swerved just wide of the left hand post.
Swansea keeper Lukas Fabianksi was kept busy but had to make only one spectacular save, leaping to tip over a volleyed shot from Alvaro Morata on 28 minutes.
Davide Zappacosta tested him too, as did Pedro and Morata again.
Chelsea's players were queuing up to take pot shots at goal.
In contrast Swansea, with only one goal in the last five games, continued to struggle in the final third.
Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois did not have a save to make in the first half.
Swansea barely got into the home side's area and were depressingly feeble weak up front in the absence of leading scorer Tammy Abraham - on loan from Chelsea and therefore ineligible for the match.
Azpilicueta was 'dropped' for the first time for a Premier League game since Conte took over in the summer of 2016.
That is a gruelling 51 game run.
But Conte is mindful that from here on in, the fixtures come thick and fast with a 12.
30pm kick off against Newcastle on Saturday, followed by the final Group Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
A London derby at West Ham, then Huddersfield and Carabao Cup action follows in the next three weeks.
Conte is preserving energy levels and from last night's sluggish performance he needs to.
Alfie Mawson and Alvaro Morata tussle for the ball at Stamford Bridge.
Conte opted to sit out the second half inside the dressing room instead of the stand.
Fabianski looked unbeatable at times for the Swans.
Conte and Fabianski seemed to be the only two people wide awake at Stamford Bridge.
Having saved from Morata once in the first half, he produced another great tip wide of the goal from the Spanish forward in the 63rd minute.
But City's impressive keeper was helpless to prevent Rudgier breaking the deadlock from a set-piece.
Cesc Fabregas curled a free kick to the far side of the box from in front of the East Stand and his ball pinged off the unsuspecting Bony, meaning that Rudiger could not be offside as he pounced on the deflection and headed in ten minutes into the second half.
It was hardly a classic goal but it was hardly a classic match.
And to cap it all guilty Conte missed it having seen enough and deciding to sit out the second half in the Chelsea dressing room.
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