Chelsea vs Burnley football prediction in the Premier League

Overview

After a long and dense schedule, Chelsea finally had a rare week off under coach Liam Rosenior. Since taking over the hot seat from Enzo Maresca at the beginning of the year, Rosenior has had to lead The Blues to play with a density of almost 3 days a match.

Thanks to Joao Pedro's impressive goal against Napoli in January, Chelsea avoided the Champions League play-off round, thereby having more valuable time to recover their fitness. The West London team is aiming to take advantage of this to impose their strength against difficult opponents, thereby increasing their chances of finishing in the top 5.

However, Rosenior still has reason to be cautious, despite the rare break this week. In the most recent round, Chelsea could not take advantage when hosting an opponent in the bottom half of the table.

Being rated higher than Leeds United, the Stamford Bridge team once led 2-0 but was eventually held to a draw by Daniel Farke's team. That result caused Chelsea to miss the opportunity to overcome Manchester United to take fourth place.

This draw also ended The Blues' 4-game winning streak in the Premier League. Previously, the last time Chelsea dropped points was a 1-2 defeat to Fulham in the London derby on January 7.

Entering the weekend round, Rosenior's team aims to react strongly immediately. A victory could help Chelsea temporarily surpass Man United in the standings, in the context that the "Red Devils" are playing later.

Although considered a bright candidate for victory against Burnley, a cautious atmosphere still envelops Stamford Bridge for two clear reasons. The first is Chelsea's unstable home performance this season, with a record of 6 wins, 4 draws and three defeats. The second is recent unsatisfactory results against the team from Lancashire.

Burnley has been unbeaten in their last two away games to West London, when they drew with Chelsea 1-1 (November 2021) and 2-2 (March 2024) respectively.

Notably, 7 out of the 8 points that the team currently ranked near the bottom in the Premier League won against Chelsea all came from matches in London. Coach Scott Parker's team is aiming to become the third rookie team this season, after Sunderland and Leeds, to achieve positive results right at the home of the FIFA Club World Cup champion.

Chelsea's tendency to drop points when they were already leading - which appeared in the defeat against Sunderland and the draw with Leeds - further boosted the team's confidence. Even when conceding a goal, Burnley still believed they had a chance.

The recent impressive comeback at Selhurst Park is clear proof of that spirit. The victory over Crystal Palace helped Burnley narrow the gap with the safe group to 9 points.

Now, Burnley is aiming to win two consecutive victories in the Premier League for the first time since October, when they successively defeated Leeds (2-0) and Wolves (3-2).

Expected lineup:

Sanchez, James, Fofana, Chalobah, Hato, Santos, Caicedo, Palmer, Fernandez, Neto, Pedro.

Dubravka, Laurent, Worrall, Esteve, Walker, Ugochukwu, Hannibal, Humphreys, Edwards, Anthony, Flemming.