Burnley vs Chelsea – Preview

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If you were to say to someone at the start of this season that this game would see 7th in the Premier League table play host to 5th then I’m not sure many people would agree with you. Both Burnley and Chelsea find themselves in positions they probably did not expect to be in.

For the now former Premier League champions Chelsea, they know that they need to keep winning all their games to have any chance of returning to the Champions League next season, while for Sean Dyche’s Burnley another win would see them move a step closer to a place in the Europa League.

Something that no-one would have expected at the start of this campaign, a lot of pundits had the Clarets as one of the three teams that would be relegated, especially after the sale of Michael Keane to Everton.

But the Lancashire outfit have defied the critics throughout and their reward will be a probable top seven finish. One that could get them into the Europa League, should Southampton not be the team to win the F.A. Cup.

That said they may not need to rely on Southampton not going all the way in the cup, the reason being that if they finish in the top six then they will confirm a European place without having to rely on anyone else.

A win over Antonio Conte’s men would see them leapfrog Arsenal into 6th place albeit having played a game more. But as many people will say at this point of the season it is all about getting points on the board than opposed to having games in hand.

Especially as Arsenal are doing their level best to win the Europa League themselves, because of that they will be putting all their eggs in this basket and it bodes well for Burnley to finish in the top half dozen teams in the Premier League.

They play host to a Chelsea side who came back from two-nil down at Southampton to earn all three points at St Mary’s. If their first 60 minutes or so were nothing to write home about then the way that they got back into the game was certainly impressive.

The introduction of Oliver Giroud off the bench turned the tide of the game as his brace along with a finish from Eden Hazard, meant that Chelsea completed an incredible comeback in the space of just 8 minutes.

A win that keeps their hopes of a top four finish alive, albeit one that they are going to have to work incredible hard for between now and the final day if their hopes of returning to Europe’s top club competition are to become a reality.

Quite simply they need to win all their league matches and hope for dropped points elsewhere, the visit to Burnley will not be easy especially what with them picking up 16 points from their last 18 and winning their last five league matches in a row.

Last season this game ended in a 1-1 draw as it was one of the few grounds in which Chelsea dropped points on their way to winning the title. Don’t be too surprised if we a similar outcome this time around.