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A 93rd minute equalizer from Jose Bosingwa, that too a very fortunate one, denied Swansea a famous win over London giants Chelsea in a Tuesday night kick-off at the Liberty Stadium. Chelsea dominated the match for large periods and had 20 shots on goal, but lacked potency in the final third to really work Dutch international Michel Vorm in the Swansea goal. The home side had taken the lead in the 39th minute when former Blue Scott Sinclair's speculative effort from inside the box had found the top corner. Swansea were under the pump for large periods of the second half, but a sending off for Ashley Cole late in the game seemed to have scuppered any chance of a Chelsea revival. Yet, an attempted cross from Bosingwa took a wicked deflection off Neil Taylor and beat Vorm, who was already committed to going the other way as the title challengers left Wales with a share of the spoils.

Despite the reverse fixture ending 4-1 in favour of the Blues, goals in plenty were hardly expected when Chelsea made the long trip from London to Wales to do battle with Swansea City for the very first time at the Liberty Stadium. The match was touted as the battle between the two apprentices as Brendan Rogers welcomed his fellow co-conspirator from the Mourinho era, Andre Villas-Boas.

Swansea completely reshuffled their team for the second game running, dumping 10 players from the side that lost to Bolton in the FA Cup with powerful center-back Ashley Williams the sole survivor. It was a return to their first choice eleven for the meanest defence at home in the Premier League, though there were no shortage of threats at the opposite end of the pitch. Danny Graham led the line with the pacey duo of Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer providing support from the wings.

Chelsea meanwhile were missing the midfield trio of Ramires, Lampard and Mikel, and that mean Florent Malouda was given a rare start. Fernando Torres, who moved to the Blues for £50 million on this day last year, led the line with Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata providing support. Michael Essien was once again named on the subs bench and this time had new signing Gary Cahill for company. The England international failed to make the starting eleven despite a knee injury to John Terry, leaving more than a few pundits scratching their heads.

An entertaining first half saw Swansea spurn some terrific chances with striker Danny Graham seemingly leaving his shooting boots behind today. A last ditch challenge from Branislav Ivanovic denied Graham an early goal, and there were more heroics to come from the Chelsea defence as two consecutive goal bound efforts from Sigurdsson and Graham were cleared off the line by the two central defenders after Petr Cech had made a hash of a routine collection.

Back up the other end, Daniel Sturridge had Chelsea's best chance of the half, but failed to hit the target from David Luiz' cross. Chelsea had a good spell briefly in the middle of the half, but Swansea stood firm and opened the scoring in slightly fortuitous circumstances. Bosingwa's botched header from a Sigurdsson free-kick found its way to the center of the box, and Sinclair's hooked effort looped over Petr Cech into the far corner.

Swansea took the lead into the interval and were in for 45 minutes of massive pressure in the second period.

Chelsea had the home side under the cosh early in the second half, but clear cut chances were few and far between. With the midfield lacking firepower, Andre Villas-Boas threw on Michael Essien for the last half-hour or so, and the Ghanaian midfielder almost had an instant impact on the game smashing a powerful drive from distance just over the bar.

With Fernando Torres looking clearly off his game, Sturridge continued to be Chelsea's biggest threat and the England international did brilliantly to make space for himself in the box despite the attention of atleast four players in white shirts. Sturridge's toe poke though drifted wide of Vorm's post once again.

At the other end, Nathan Dyer was having yet another fantastic game. His low center of gravity, genuine pace and trickery saw him work an opening for himself late in the game, but the winger dragged his effort wide from a similar position that saw him score a few weeks ago against Arsenal.

Chelsea were getting more than a bit ragged as the game progressed, and a very lenient Andre Marriner let the Blues get away with terrible tackles which on most days would have seen a flurry of yellow cards. One player who got away with a bunch of warnings was Ashley Cole before he was eventually booked. A rash tackle though from the England international on Dyer saw him get his marching orders in the 87th minute.

With a man advantage, it appeared that Swansea had seen off Chelsea's threat, and would have wrapped up the contest had they just hung on to the football. However, as luck would have it, Bosingwa got an opportunity to atone for his earlier error. The roving Portuguese right back, who always looks a lot better in the opposing third of the pitch whipped in a routine cross into a packed Swansea box, and with Vorm committed to go and collect it, a massive deflection off Taylor saw it head into the back of the net at the near post.

It was a tough goal for Swansea to concede, especially so late in the game, but on account of the possession and the number of chances they created, one perhaps Chelsea deserved.

The Blues may in the end see this as a point gained rather than two dropped with Manchester City failing to pull away at the top of the table thanks to their defeat at the hands of Everton. However, the Blues will be bitterly disappointed with their lack of cutting edge, especially with the impending visit of Manchester United at the weekend.·

Teams:

Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Caulker, Williams, Taylor, Britton, Allen, Sigurdsson (Agustien 67'), Dyer, Graham, Sinclair (Moore 77').

Subs: Tremmel, Routledge, Monk, Lita, Moore, Agustien, Richards.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cole, Meireles, Romeu (Essien 65'), Malouda (Lukaku 80'), Sturridge, Torres, Mata.

Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Lukaku, Ferreira, Cahill, Bertrand, Piazon.

Final Score: Swansea 1-1 Chelsea (Sinclair 39', Bosingwa 93')