Swansea City vs Chelsea: Andre Ayew fit as Francesco Guidolin clarifies Antonio Conte comments

Swansea City will be able to call upon the services of Andre Ayew for the first time in three weeks on 9 April as they prepare to entertain Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium. The striker was forced to sit out recent matches against Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Stoke City due to an ankle knock that saw him replaced by Bafetimbi Gomis for the final eight minutes of a 1-0 victory over Norwich in March, but manager Francesco Guidolin has now confirmed his availability for the visit of Guus Hiddink's side.

Former Marseille stalwart Ayew is in his first season at Swansea and has netted eight goals in 29 appearances since signing a four-year contract in June 2015. The 26-year-old briefly returned to France in March for treatment on his injury and did not link-up with younger brother Jordan and the Ghanaian national squad for their recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header against Mozambique.

Addressing his injury situation ahead of the weekend, Guidolin was quoted as saying by Wales Online: "We have some problems, Leon Britton and Jordi Amat at the moment but I don't know whether they can train with us. Andre Ayew has trained and he is available and an option for us. He has trained all week and is ready."

Chelsea's outing at Swansea will be their first since it was finally confirmed that Antonio Conte has agreed to take over as manager after the conclusion of Italy's Euro 2016 campaign. Guidolin, who is out of contract at the end of the season, supposedly told Gazetta dello Sport earlier this week that he would be "happy" to take over his compatriot's role with the Azzurri. He has now sought to clarify those comments, however, expressing a desire to hold talks with Huw Jenkins given that the key objective of Premier League survival has been secured bar a highly unlikely sequence of events.

"I only said it would be an honour if my name is on the shortlist for the Italian job. I don't know anything else," the experienced former Udinese boss explained. "It is an honour because I am Italian, but I said as well how proud I am if I have the possibility to work here because I would like very much to work here. I have not spoken to anybody at the Italian FA, they are only rumours.

"I hope there are conversations with the chairman, after safety is real I hope to have the possibility to speak with my chairman, this is our agreement."