It’s first against 18th in the Premier League, as Chelsea look to maintain their three point lead at the top of the table whereas in the Burnley camp they’ll be looking to try and claw themselves out of the relegation zone.
The Blues are in hot form as they are on a four game win streak in the league where in that time they have scored 14 and only conceded the once, which was a penalty. Their last league game The Blues convincingly put three past Newcastle without a reply which consisted of a Reece James brace and a Jorginho penalty.
Burnley come into this game after a rather impressive 3-1 victory over new comers Brentford, however this has been their only victory in the league this season in which they have really struggled for form, which is why they are currently sat below the drop zone.
This was the fixture last season, in January, where Thomas Tuchel got his first win as Chelsea boss with goals coming from defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso in a 2-0 home victory.
There was yet more positive news blues fans in midweek, along with the 1-0 victory over Malmo, that the impressive Trevoh Chalobah had signed a new long term deal with the club which keeps the 22 years-old at the bridge until 2026. He’s played 10 times this season under Tuchel whilst also scoring twice so far from central defence.
Team News ahead of the game
Chelsea will be without; Timo Werner, Romelu Lukaku, Mateo Kovacic and also Marcos Alonso who picked up an ankle injury in the Champions League fixture in midweek. Mason Mount looks set to return to the side after missing the previous two with a wisdom tooth problem but shall be assessed before the game after only having a couple of training sessions back with the squad.
As for Burnley Aaron Lennon has been ill and will be assessed before taking the trip to the Bridge, Dale Stephens is a long term absentee with an ankle injury.
Lineups
KICK OFF
1′ – Chelsea kick off
4′ – First big chance for Callum Hudson-Odoi, he goes down the outside and forces a low stop from Pope, then fires the rebound wide.
10′ – Antonio Rudiger has a free header from a Reece James corner which he sails over the bar.
13′ – CLOSE! Ross Barkley has a shot from the edge of the penalty area on the right side which he reverses to the top left corner and it just goes wide of the top left corner. Bright start from the league leaders though.
19′ – One way traffic so far this game, with Burnley unable to string three passes together nor get out their own half.
20′ – Burnley’s first shot on target comes as the balls flicks up off Christensen which allows Cornet to try and acrobatic overhead kick which rather tamely finds the gloves of Mendy in the Chelsea goal.
24′ – Another Rudiger header from yet another James cross flies over the bar, he will be disappointed to have not at least tested Pope in goal.
29′ – CLOSE AGAIN! James whips in a dangerous low cross that is deflected via a Burnley defender, which directs it goalwards, where Pope was just about to claw it away.
30′ – OUCH! Havertz finds himself tumbling over the advertising boards after running towards the by line he got a slight nudge by Lowton which sent him flying, luckily for Tuchel he’s up back and running now.
33′ – GOALLLL!!! James picks up the ball on the right, looks up and sends in a delightful cross towards the German frontman who fires the ball into the back of the net with a strong header, brilliant goal by Kai Havertz.
43′ – Chelsea continuing to control the game in the closing stages of the half as they look to really kill the game off, in a game which has been attack vs defence for 43 minutes.
45+2 – Andre Marriner draws the first half to a close in a half which Chelsea have been so dominant over a helpless Burnley side, it could have been two or even 3-0 but Chelsea go into the break leading 1-0.
HT- Chelsea 1-0 Burnley
46′ – Burnley kick off the second half as they look to turn their fortunes around.
50′ – Another superb cross from James which picks out Silva who remained in the box after a corner but unfortunately for the Brazilian his effort came off his shoulder which caused the ball to go the wrong side of the post.
53′ – SO CLOSE! – Brilliant driving run from James where the ball then found Hudson-Odoi on the right wing who slipped a low cross into Havertz, only a matter of a few yards out but his effort went just over the bar after it seemed to take a slight deflection.
61′ – SUBSTITUTION, coming on for Burnley Jay Rodriguez who replaces Chris Wood who had barely touched the ball for the 61 minutes he had played this afternoon.
65′ – Great save from Pope as Hudson-Odoi weaved his way through a number of Burnley defenders in the box where he was then bearing down on Pope’s goal only for the Burnley keeper to make a fine save after a low shot from the Chelsea winger, Chelsea now starting to turn up the heat.
68′ – YELLOW CARD for Ashley Westwood after a reckless challenge.
70′ – SUBSTITUTION, second change for Burnley on comes Matej Vydra for Johann Berg Gudmundsson
72′ – HOW HAS HE MISSED! Barkley has a shot literally on the penalty spot with no one in the way to block the effort but blazes it over the bar.
73′ – SUBSTITUTION, first change for Chelsea on comes Ruben Loftus-Cheek who replaces the man who should have just scored Ross Barkley.
75′ – SIDE NETTING! Burnley’s best chance of the half comes for Rodriguez has he heads on from the corner at the near post but his effort strikes the side netting.
77′ – YELLOW CARDS for both James and Cornet who get into bit of a scuffle as Cornet was unhappy as he felt James pushed him purposely causing him to clash into the advertising boards.
80′ – EQUALISER FOR BURNLEY, McNeil floats in a ball to the back post where Rodriguez heads it back across the box square to the unopposed Vydra who has the simple task of tapping in the Burnley equaliser.
83′ – SUBSTITUTION, double change for Chelsea as they look to fight back and find a goal in the closing stages of the game on comes Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount for Ngolo Kante and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
87′ – Silva fires a volley into row Z of the Burnley end after the ball bounced up from a corner, Chelsea pushing for a winner now.
88′ – SUBSTITUTION, final change for Burnley as they look to slow the pace of the game down on comes Erik Pieters, for Maxwel Cornet.
94+4′ – Chelsea continuing to push for a winner but the final whistle blows as it finishes 1-1 here at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
FT- Chelsea 1-1 Burnley
1-1 is the final score here today at Stamford Bridge in a game where Chelsea was the dominant side during the game but just couldn’t make the most of their chances. This result maintains Chelsea’s position as league leaders but means the teams around them are now able to cut the gap in title race which will surely go down to the wire.
As for Burnley, they will remain in the relegation zone but it will be a confidence boosting result for them in which they’ll need to get all the points they can this season no matter where they come from.
For more football content click here.
For more sport content click here.
