Clarets to take on league leaders

Last updated : 20 February 2015 By Tony Scholes

Chelsea away - and I think we all remember Chelsea at home in our very first Premier League fixture of the season. There was a lot of excitement around Turf Moor with hopes that we could do just as we'd done five years earlier and beat a big team in the first home game.

Then it was Man United and a 19th minute Robbie Blake goal that gave us a 1-0 win, so hopes were raised even further when Scott Arfield gave us a 13th minute lead at the same end of the ground.

That's where the similarities ended; Chelsea were level three minutes later and in front within another four minutes. When the third went in with 11 minutes remaining in the first half, we feared the worst. That, thankfully, was the end of the scoring and I think we'd done well against a team that was even better than I thought they might be.

Arfield's goal was one to savour because we didn't score another goal in August and didn't even get one in September, our next goals coming in the 2-2 draw at Leicester.

Just 34 minutes into our Premier League season I wondered just what we were in for but there is no doubt that we've improved as the season has gone on and we should certainly have won more points recently than the single one we have got in the last four games.

Tom Heaton is going to Stamford Bridge full of positivity

But the real truth is that we are next to bottom and we do need to start picking up more points since although tomorrow is probably going to be the most difficult game in which to start getting those points.

The team are positive going into the game and yesterday goalkeeper Tom Heaton said: "Chelsea are a great side and when we had our first Premier League game, they were excellent that night but we'll go there full of positivity after a good performance against Manchester United.

"We felt we deserved something out of the game. It wasn't to be, but hopefully we can take that sort of performance into the weekend. If we play like we did at Old Trafford again then we're going to give ourselves a great chance of getting something out of the game."

There's been some good news this week as far as the injuries are concerned. It will be a long time before we can pencil in Dean Marney for a game. The midfielder will be a big miss, of that there is no doubt, but he had his operation this week which has gone well and that's one step forward towards the long road back to first team football.

Matt Taylor is back in full training. He had a couple of setbacks on the way back from achilles surgery but a return is beginning to look closer for the midfielder who hasn't played since the home draw against Man United in August.

More good news is that of Stephen Ward who is back in contention and in the squad for tomorrow's game and I fully expect him to be in the 18 on duty although I suspect he won't start.

That starting line up could be the one that played at Old Trafford and if so we'll line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, George Boyd, Scott Arfield, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Michael Duff, Stephen Ward, Ross Wallace, Sam Vokes, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell.

Chelsea aren't having a bad season. They currently lead the Premier League by seven points, are in the Capital One Cup Final, where they will play Spurs, and look forward to going into a home tie in the Champions League against Paris St Germain with the scores level from the first leg.

The only black mark so far was the shock home defeat to Bradford City in the FA Cup, an incredible day when the League One club came back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Stamford Bridge. At least it shows this team are beatable.

They've lost just twice in the league this season and both of those have come away from home at Newcastle and Tottenham. Their last league home defeat, the only one at Stamford Bridge under Mourinho, was against Sunderland last season.

That sort of highlights how difficult it might be for us tomorrow, but, at the end of the day, the game is played on grass with eleven players (please take note Martin Atkinson) on each side.

Who will play for Chelsea? Almost certainly Diego Costa, who has been suspended domestically for three games, will return. They have such a strong squad such that they were even able to leave Cesc Fabregas on the bench in their last league game against Everton.

Their team that night was: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Kurt Zouma, John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ramires, Nemanja Matic, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Willian, Eden Hazard, Loic Remy. Subs: Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis, Nathan Ake, Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Didier Drogba.

 

Last Time We Were There

Our last visit to Stamford Bridge was our second away game in the Premier League season of 2009/10 and we went there with some confidence after having just beaten both Manchester United and Everton at home while recalling that we'd knocked them out of the previous season's Carling Cup.

Brian Jensen was outstanding 

If we thought those two home wins had been tough, then this was on another level and we might have fallen behind very early when a mistake from Andre Bikey let in Nicolas Anelka. Brian Jensen, as he did a number of times during the first half, came to the rescue at the same ground where, a season earlier, he'd performed heroics in the penalty shoot out.

But, incredibly, the best chance of the first half fell to us. With only nine minutes on the clock Tyrone Mears played in Martin Paterson. It was the simplest of chances for the striker but somehow he shot wide when it looked far, far easier to score.

That might have changed the game but for the rest of the half we defended manfully and when they did get through there was Jensen with save after save, one of them an absolute stunner.

The board went up for the added minutes at the end of the first half and we were still level but just seven minutes into the second half Chelsea made it 3-0 and the game was up.

Anelka scored in the last minute of stoppage time at the end of that first half, Michael Ballack got a second less than two minutes into the second half and Ashley Cole completed the scoring on 52 minutes.

Thankfully, that was the end of the scoring but this was definitely a win for the home side because of the quality of their performance and not because we played badly. Chelsea looked a damn good side and it was no surprise they went on to win the title.

The teams were;

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Jose Bosingwa (Juliano Belleti 66), Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack (John Obi Mikel 83), Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Deco, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba (Salomon Kalou 76). Subs not used: Hilario, Branislav Ivanovic, Florent Malouda, Daniel Sturridge.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander (Kevin McDonald 75), Steven Fletcher, Wade Elliott, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake (Fernando Guerrero 78), Martin Paterson (Joey Gudjonsson 59). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Christian Kalvenes, Chris Eagles, Steven Thompson.

 

Previous Games against Chelsea

 

Last 20 Years
Season Comp Ven Res Att  Scorers
2008/09 Carling Cup a 1-1* 41,369 Akinbiyi - (afterextra time, won 5-4 on pens)
2009/10 Premier League a 0-3 40,906  
    h 1-2 21,131 Fletcher
2014/15 Premier League h 1-3 20,699 Arfield

 

Click HERE to see all previous results against Chelsea