Swansea City midfielder Jack Cork (left) moves past Demarai Gray, of Leicester City, during last weekend’s match.

Having helped Chelsea to win the Premier League as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, Paul Clement will be looking to put a dent in their title hopes this season when he takes his resurgent Swansea City side to Stamford Bridge today.

Clement, who had two spells at Chelsea, was Ancelotti’s right-hand man when they won the double in 2010, and will return for the first time this weekend having departed the following year.

A trip to face the runaway league leaders would be an unenviable task for most teams fighting relegation, but Clement’s Swansea will head to West London fuelled with confidence.

Having taken charge at the start of January with Swansea rock bottom of the Premier League, Clement has overseen a superb turnaround, lifting them four points clear of the relegation zone.

Perhaps the biggest testament to the work Clement has done is that his side have collected more points (12) in 2017 than his former employers (11), who hold an imposing eight-point lead at the top of the table.

Swansea have also shown that they are not intimidated by away games against the Premier League’s big guns, having stunned Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield and come within moments of escaping the Etihad Stadium with a point before Gabriel Jesus’s stoppage-time winner for Manchester City.

Despite those positive performances, Clement is wary of Chelsea and understands the enormity of the job at hand.

“It is a big task for us,” he told reporters.

“We went to Liverpool with a very positive attitude and also Manchester City, where we were very close to getting something as well. We will approach this with the same mentality and try and execute the plan on Saturday (today).”

With Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United not in Premier League action this week, due to fixture clashes created by tomorrow’s League Cup final, Chelsea have a great chance to stretch their lead and put further pressure on the chasing pack.

Fifth-placed Liverpool, who visit Leicester City on Monday, and third-placed Tottenham, who host Stoke tomorrow, will both hope to strike blows in an increasingly congested battle for a top-four finish and Champions League qualification.

Only four points separate Chelsea’s five nearest challengers with 13 games remaining.

UK football fixtures...

Premier League

Playing today
Chelsea vs Swansea    
C. Palace vs M’Boro    
Everton vs Sunderland    
Hull City vs Burnley    
West Brom vs Bournemouth    
Watford vs West Ham - 18.30

Tomorrow
Tottenham vs Stoke City - 14.30

Monday
Leicester vs Liverpool - 21.00

Standings: Chelsea 60; Man. City 52; Tottenham, Arsenal 50; Liverpool 49; Man. United 48; Everton 41; West Brom 37; Stoke, West Ham 32; South-ampton, Burnley, Watford 30; Bourne-mouth 26; Swansea 24; M’Boro 22; Leicester 21; Hull 20; C. Palace, Sunderland 19.

League Cup final

Tomorrow (Wembley Stadium)
Man. Utd vs Southampton    17.30

Championship

Today
Aston Villa vs Derby - 16.00
Barnsley vs Huddersfield    
Brentford vs Rotherham    
Brighton vs Reading - 18.30
Cardiff vs Fulham    
Leeds vs Sheffield Wed - 13.30
Newcastle vs Bristol City    
Preston vs QPR    
Wigan vs Nottm Forest

Tomorrow
Norwich City vs Ipswich - 13.00

Scottish Premier

Today
Aberdeen vs Ross County    
Celtic vs Hamilton    
Motherwell vs Dundee    
Partick Thistle vs Hearts    
St Johnstone vs Kilmarnock

Championship

Today
Ayr United vs St Mirren    
Dundee United vs Morton    
Falkirk vs Dumbarton    
Queen of South vs Raith Rovers    
Hibs vs Dunfermline - 18.15

Note: Kick-offs 16.00 unless stated.