Chelsea have been held to a goalless half-time draw by 10-man Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium in the Premier League this afternoon.

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Chico Flores received two yellow cards in as many minutes for tackles on Willian and Andre Schurrle, before being given his marching orders by referee Phil Dowd on 16 minutes.

Prior to the Spaniard's dismissal, both outfits had good opportunities to open the scoring early in the encounter.

Mohamed Salah should have fired the Blues into a fifth-minute lead after wandering into the area unmarked before dragging Branislav Ivanovic's cut-back pass wide of the mark.

At the other end, Wilfried Bony latched onto Angel Rangel's upfield cross, only to watch Petr Cech tip his goal-bound header over the bar.

The numerical advantage began to show as the half grew older, but Jose Mourinho's men could not find the opener.