Chelsea v. Burnley preview: Carlo the tinkerman meets Coyle's giant killers

In the wake of last weekend’s 0-2 win over Fulham, Ancelotti explained why he’d shifted things around a bit. “Deco was out and Essien was out for this game. But it was a good line-up. Essien has played all the games so far, so I wanted to give him a rest. He will play the next game. We have to follow this line”.

So whilst we can assume that Essien will line up against Owen Coyle’s Burnley tomorrow (Stamford Bridge, 12.45pm) we can’t be quite sure what starting XI Ancelotti will field. He is clearly planning on rotating his squad throughout the season (lord knows why it’s needed so early on though – especially with a player like Essien) and so far only five players have featured in all three Premier League starting line-ups so far: Petr Cech, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. I’m all in favour of a settled side, but such an approach is an interesting development out of keeping with what we’ve seen over the past few years. Perhaps putting less physical stress on the players will help prevent injuries?

We can’t be sure what formation he’ll play either, but my hunch is that Ancelotti will revert to the (narrow-looking) 4-4-2 diamond at home. If he does, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Essien come in for Mikel at the base of diamond, Lampard and Ballack to take the left and right roles respectively and Deco to play at the tip – the players that improved the diamond’s performance in the second half against Hull.

In good news for the blues, the squad could be significantly strengthened this weekend with the potential return of Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov (bridgeviews.co.uk previewed the Russian’s return here). Whilst it’s unlikely either will start, they could well make our options from the bench far stronger than they have in previous years (conceivably our bench could comprise: Turnbull, Beletti, Ivanovic, Mikel, Zhirkov, J Cole, Sturridge). Both Zhirkov and Cole offer something very different from other players in the squad and would give Ancelotti useful options should he need to change the game tomorrow.

Whilst things are looking up for Chelsea – not least because of a 100% start to the Premier League campaign – things aren’t looking too bad for Burnley either.

This is the club that came to Stamford Bridge last season and defeated Scolari’s Chelsea (albeit via penalties) and also kicked Fulham, Arsenal and Spurs out of domestic trophies last season. Their Premier League campaign got off to a shaky start with a 0-2 defeat to Stoke, but they played magnificently to pull off a shock 1-0 win over Man Utd last weekend. It seems they are the masters of upping their game for the big clubs however – reportedly they struggled to an extra time win against Hartlepool in their midweek Carling Cup fixture. Defender Eckersley was sent off in that game and he faces a one match suspension, meaning Burnley’s defence will be weakened at Stamford Bridge. Steven Caldwell is still unavailable with a groin injury.

Perhaps it’s also worth mentioning what our rivals are up to this weekend. Saturday sees the first ‘big four’ clash of the season as Arsenal take on Utd at Old Trafford. Contrasting opening games for the old rivals means we could be in for a classic game but, as impressive as Arsenal’s start has been I’m left wondering how Wenger’s youngsters will manage against a good defensive unit. Let’s hope for a draw… Meanwhile, struggling title rivals Liverpool travel to Bolton this weekend. In previous years you might hope for an organised Bolton side to take points from big four rivals but Megson’s side have had a woeful start to the season and there will surely be a backlash from Liverpool after Monday’s performance against Villa. Finally, Man City will beat Portsmouth on Sunday.

bridgeviews.co.uk predicted Chelsea line up: Cech, A Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Bosingwa, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Anelka, Drogba
bridgeviews.co.uk prediction: whilst Burnley have a tradition of getting results against bigger sides, you would expect Chelsea have enough to see off Burnley on Saturday should they reach anything like their top form. Burnley will put up a good fight though and, unless Chelsea score an early goal, this could be closer than most imagine. Chelsea to win 2-0.

Comments

[Pat McLaughlin]

Hi Russell, what an easy win, i couldn't believe the stats. We had 28 attempts, they had three. We had 18 on target, they had zero!
We could have won this 6 or 7-0 on another day with a different goalie on their side.
He should have got Man Of The Match (maybe he did?)