- Blues unbeaten in four PL matches vs. Burnley
- Burnley have allowed just one goal in last five PL fixtures
- Diego Costa averaging goal every 137 minutes with Blues
Chelsea host Burnleyย on Saturdayย (Watch live, 10 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBC Sports)ย as the two sides meet for the first time since the 2014/15 campaign.
The Blues havenโt looked convincing for an entire match to open the new season, but Antonio Conteโs boys have gotten the results necessary to remain unbeaten through two weeks.
Diego Costa remains the biggest threat for Chelsea to start the season, netting two goals in as many matches. Meanwhile, offseason signing Michy Batshuayi has already shown promise of his own,ย netting his first Premier League goal against Watford before scoring twice to help the Blues advance against Bristol Rovers in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
Despite bailing out of the EFL Cup midweek, Burnley is still riding a major high after last weekendโs 2-0 victory against Liverpool.
Sean Dycheโs men donโt have the flashiest team, but the Clarets already look better equipped to stay up next season than they did back in 2014/15. Sam Vokes offers Burnley with an experienced striker, but heโll need to continue to fire if the Clarets are to find sustained success.
What theyโre saying
Conte on Burnleyโs return to the Premier League:ย โI watched their performance against Liverpool and also against Swansea.ย It was a fantastic performance against Liverpool from a physical and tactical aspect.
โThey put great pressure on Liverpool for the whole 90 minutes. Itโs incredible because only one year ago many people paid attention to ball possession. This game was 25 percent ball possession for Burnley, and 75 for Liverpool, and the final result was 2-0 to Burnley.โ
Dyche on Burnleyโs attempt to stay in PL this season: ย โWeโre differently equipped and we still need players, weโre working hard on that, but itโs a different group,โ he said of the 2014-15 team that last played in the top flight.ย We had to change the group from losing players at the beginning of last season and the teamโs morphed slightly differently.
โWe keep doing that and trying to get a team. What everyone would deem the impossible challenge for a club like us, we want to make it possible. We said that two years ago and didnโt quite get there. We want to do that again this year.ย Itโs obvious weโre not leading the market with finance, depth of squad, but what will become apparent, and it already has, is we are willing for the challenge and weโll give every inch of ourselves to achieve what we want.โ
Prediction
The Blues boast the talent, but as they showed against Liverpool, Burnley possesses enough quality to absorb pressure and grind out results. That said, Conteโs group should only get better as the season progresses, and Diego Costa is already firing on all cylinders.ย Chelsea 2-0 Burnley.
Follow @MattReedFutbol
