Monk relishing Chelsea challenge

Garry Monk insists his side are relishing the challenge of testing themselves against the champions on the opening day of the season.

The Swans make the trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea this weekend (August 8, 5.30pm) as they look to kick off their Barclays Premier League campaign in winning fashion.

Monk's men have enjoyed a positive pre-season, having gone unbeaten during their training camp in Germany and in pre-season fixtures back in the UK.

And despite acknowledging the difficulty of the task facing them on the opening day, Monk insists his side are looking forward to facing Jose Mourinho's side.

"It doesn't come any tougher than this start, going to the home of the champions," admitted the Swans boss.

"But we will relish the challenge and try to come away having put on a good performance. 

We've put a lot of hard work in during pre-season. The new signings came in early, so we have had the group together to prepare for a good five or six weeks, and we're looking forward to the season now.

"If we can put in a good performance and take that into the rest of the season, it would be great."

Chelsea, meanwhile, head into the opening day fixture on the back of a friendly defeat to Fiorentina, but Monk doesn't believe too much can be read into pre-season results.

"Pre-season games are difficult to read into," added Monk. "Premier League games are a totally different animal: the players think differently and the intensity is different.

"I think they're the favourites for the title. They set such a good standard last year and have added to the squad. They're very adaptable, and won the league comfortably towards the end.

"We will be preparing for the best Chelsea side, but hopefully we can go there and put a performance on after a good pre-season.

"For 45 minutes there last season we were excellent. If we can produce 90 minutes like that, it would be great."