Date: Saturday 5th
March 2022
Venue: Turf Moor
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Our 3,500th
top-flight fixture sees us travel to Turf Moor to take on Burnley (who’d have
thought we could have squeezed that many games in since 2003? Thanks for 19 incredible
years Roman).
We come into
this game off the back of a tough one against Luton in the FA Cup midweek,
having lost on penalties to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last weekend, so
a physical one against Burnley is probably the last game we need right now. We’ve
won our last two in the Premier League but given the last one was February 19th
it hardly qualifies as momentum. We’re still third in the table though, with
four points and a couple of games in hand over United, so whilst we won’t be
getting any higher in the table, a win would at least keep things comfortable.
As for
Burnley, aside from a 2-0 defeat to Leicester in their last game, they’ve had a
decent spell, picking up 7 points from their games against Brighton, Sp*rs and
Palace and leaving them 18th in the table. Whilst Chelsea have picked
up 27 points from 13 games on their travels and haven’t ever lost at Turf Moor,
Burnley have only lost four of their 12 games at home, with 6 games ending in a
draw, so we might end up settling for a point here.
We looked
better against Luton once the cavalry arrived and a goal from Lukaku is always
welcome, mind you, even a decent pass to Lukaku is worthy of a small round of
applause now but for me, it’s all about playing the best players available and
preferably in their best positions if we’re going to wind the haters up with a
result this afternoon.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Burnley manager “There’s a bit of noise
as if they’re not as strong as they were, but at the end of the day they’ve
only lost one in 10 (league games). That’s
a message in itself. They are still a very strong outfit – maybe just not
currently where Liverpool and Manchester City are, but very strong. We have to be realistic with that – equally,
we have found ways of operating against these teams and we’re going to have to
do that again.”
Thomas
Tuchel, meanwhile, says “A very different test and fair enough because every
team has their style. They are consistent in how they approach the games:
physical and direct up front, a lot of crosses, dangerous at set-pieces. So we think we know what’s coming but still
we don’t want to predict too much because who knows what is coming? We have to
let the players find the answers on the pitch. Yes we will prepare but in the
end they have to find the solutions and be prepared for a wide range of
opportunities.
We played a
very good match [against Burnley at home]. We created a lot but struggled to
score the second or third goal and were punished in the end by a typical
Burnley goal. Performance I was happy.
Result wise we will be looking for better tomorrow.”
SQUAD NEWS
For
Burnley, Erik Pieters, Dale Stephens, Matej Vydra
and Johann Berg Gudmundsson are injured, and Ben Mee (knee) is a doubt.
For
Chelsea, Ben Chilwell (knee), remains our long-term absentee,
and neither Christensen nor Azpilicueta are also expected to miss out. Hakim Ziyech
and Trevoh Chalobah should be available again.
TEAMS
BURNLEY (Possible line-up): Pope; Roberts, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Lennon, Westwood, Brownhill,
McNeil; Weghorst, Cornet
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Mendy; Chalobah, T Silva, Rudiger; James, Kovacic, Kante, Alonso;
Havertz, Lukaku, Mount
LAST SEASON
Burnley 0-3 Chelsea (31st
October 2020)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
BURNLEY: DLWWDL
CHELSEA: DDLDWW
OTHER STUFF
- Burnley have won just one of the 15 Premier League
meetings.
- Chelsea have won six of their seven Premier League
away games against Burnley, drawing the other.
- Burnley will move out of the relegation zone if
they avoid defeat in this match.
- Burnley can lose consecutive Premier League home
games for the first time this campaign
- Burnley have won only two of their last 22 at Turf
Moor.
- Only Norwich have scored fewer top-flight goals
than the 22 by Burnley.
- Chelsea have played only one Premier League match
since the end of January.
- Chelsea can win three successive league games for
the first time since October.
- Chelsea have kept seven clean sheets away from home
in 2021-22.
- Chelsea have won all six Premier League away games
this season versus teams in the bottom half of the table.
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: Burnley 0-1 Chelsea
Sportsmole: Burnley 1-2 Chelsea
