What seemed like an easy route to the top four has become more contested for Chelsea. While they still have two games in hand on Manchester United and West Ham, the point gap has shrunk to three and five points respectively. With a lot of soccer left to play, anything can happen especially when the team has struggled to score goals with Romelu Lukaku leading the line. Thomas Tuchel will begin welcoming members of his team back from the treatment room which is sure to help, but this match versus Burnley is slightly more worrisome for the Blues than it should be.
On top of everything else, Chelsea’s on field performance has been overshadowed by the shock announcement that owner Roman Abramovich intends to sell the team…and quickly. Facing the possibility of sanctions from the U.K. government in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich announced he’d be accepting bids for the club rather than risk his asset getting frozen should the government come calling.
Here’s are storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
Storylines
Burnley: The Clarets have improved in a big way as of late but with Leeds United and Everton trying to right the ship under new management, this is a trend that will have to continue as Sean Dyche needs a team ahead of them to slip up. Facing Chelsea will be tough but Burnley has a fully healthy team coming into things. On their day, the Clarets can shut out anyone in the league but scoring goals has been the issue. With Wout Weghorst now on the team to help Maxwel Cornet, that’ll give them a better chance against Chelsea than the last time that these two teams met.
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Chelsea: Inching closer to a clean bill of health Thomas Tuchel has welcomed Thiago SIlva and Trevoh Chalobah back into the fold. Reece James also trained without issue as he returns to full fitness after a long spell on the sidelines. James will be needed immediately as well, with Cesar Azpilicueta still sidelined after suffering an injury in the league cup final defeat to Liverpool. Hakim Ziyech will round out what is a full group of attackers at Tuchel’s disposal. External pressure about the sale of Chelsea seems to be getting to the players as they were rattled in their FA Cup match with Luton town but they’ll have to shut that out while looking to do a professional job traveling to face Burnley.
Prediction
Burnley makes things tough but the Blues have too much quality in their locker. Pick: Burnley 0, Chelsea 1 (Chelsea -210, Under 2.5)