All aboard the Premier League Special

We've been building up for this game since Easter Monday when a 2-0 win against Wigan confirmed our promotion. Since, there have been changes at the ground, at the training ground and to the squad with six new signings vying for a place in tonight's starting eleven.

Sean Dyche has brought in goalkeeper Matt Gilks from Championship crisis club Blackpool, added some real Premier League experience in Steven Reid, Matty Taylor and Stephen Ward, brought Michael Kightly back permanently and signed strikers Marvin Sordell and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

There have been some widely publicised deals that haven't been completed. One, that of Craig Bryson from Derby, definitely won't happen after the Scottish midfielder signed a long term big money deal at Pride Park.

Others, such as Craig Dawson and Henri Lansbury, might still happen and it was also reported today that Wigan had turned down another offer for their midfielder James McArthur.

Jason Shackell is ready to test himself against the best

But it is all about tonight now, all about the players who are here, and for the second successive season we kick off out of sync with most of the league because of the demands of television. A year ago we had a Saturday lunchtime start against Bolton but this year I think we've got the worst of the lot, the last to play on a Monday night which allows Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to play with their gadgetry.

The 'Sold Out' signs have gone up at Turf Moor and now all we need to do is gain entry with our new cards. That might but fun so you could be well advised to get there a little bit earlier than usual.

Jason Shackell will lead the team out tonight and he has spoken of the mood in the camp ahead of the game. He said: " It's still fairly relaxed. We've had another tough week, starting to really focus in on Chelsea but the lads are just really excited and raring to get going.

"I've said it a few times, these are the players you want to test yourself against. We worked so hard to give ourselves the opportunity to play against these players last season so we've got to make the most of it and ensure we enjoy it now.

"Our mantra last year was sort of one game at a time and we're not trying to look too far beyond Chelsea. It's just focusing on us and what we need to do for the Chelsea game. We always work hard, we try and be organised and do the basics well so yes we focusing on Monday and looking forward to it.

What will our team be? Sean Dyche suggested a week last Saturday that the team he named to start the Hellas Verona friendly should not be considered his starting eleven, but I'm not so sure. I reckon that could be just the team he starts with tonight.

We could line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Matty Taylor, Dean Marney, David Jones, Scott Arfield, Danny Ings, Lukas Jutkiewicz. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Kevin Long, Stephen Ward, Danny Lafferty, Ross Wallace, Michael Kightly, Marvin Sordell, Ashley Barnes.

Chelsea have done a bit of transfer dealing in the close season too, but their signings could, I suppose, be considered more high profile than some of ours, certainly with such recruits as Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, and of course the return of Didier Drogba.

They've got such a fantastic squad to select from with the only player definitely ruled out being Ramires who is serving a suspension, and the big talking point for days is who will play in goal, Petr Cech or Thibaut Courtois. Everything seems to be leaning towards the Belgian Courtois but other than that it isn't really worth trying to name a starting eleven, suffice to say it will be strong.

No predictions from me for this one, or for the season, but I'm sure, as always, we will give a good account of ourselves.

Last Time They Were Here

Chelsea's last visit to Turf Moor came at the end of January 2010 and it was a special day for manager Brian Laws who was in charge of his old club for the first time in a home game. There was also a debut for new signing Leon Cort and he, and his defensive partner Clarke Carlisle, both had good games.

Steven Fletcher scored for the Clarets

Other new signings had to settle for a watching brief. Danny Fox, just arrived from Celtic, was in the stands whereas goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was an immediate replacement for Diego Penny on the bench.

We played well enough in this game and were unfortunate not to get anything from it in the end, suffering a 2-1 defeat.

Chelsea went in front with a move that started with Petr Cech. He threw the ball out to Joe Cole on the right who in turn played a ball across to the left. It eluded Tyrone Mears and fell kindly for Florent Malouda and his low cross was met by Nicolas Anelka who had escaped the attentions of Andre Bikey to score.

Five minutes after the break we got our equaliser. The ball broke for Bikey and he fed Robbie Blake. The little magician's ball through for Steven Fletcher and the striker did brilliantly to get past Alex and score to end what had become a long run of games without a goal.

We deserved that point but with just over ten minutes remaining we didn't even get that. A Frank Lampard corner was met by John Terry who headed the winner and inflicted on us just our second home defeat of the season.

We remained in the bottom three; and a point would have seen us climb out. The winless run had now reached 12 games.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Leon Cort, Christian Kalvenes (David Edgar 35), Wade Elliott, Kevin McDonald (Martin Paterson 60), Andre Bikey, Chris Eagles, Robbie Blake (Steven Thompson 72), Steven Fletcher. Subs not used: Nicky Weaver, Michael Duff, Joey Gudjonsson, Frédéric Nimani.

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Alex, John Terry, Ashley Cole (Deco 77), Joe Cole (Daniel Sturridge 72), Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Yuri Zhirkov, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka. Subs not used: Ross Turnbull, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Nemanja Matic, Fabio Borini.

Previous Games against Chelsea

Click HERE to see all previous results against Chelsea