Chelsea secured a fairly easy win against Malmo in midweek and now they will be looking to pick up eight straight wins as they face Burnley on Saturday in the Premier League.
Chelsea are currently sitting at the top of the Premier League table with Liverpool and Man City breathing down their neck. So they will need to win all three points to ensure the other two do not catch up.
Burnley are 18th on the league table and they only picked up their first win last weekend beating Brentford so we really do not expect them to do anything magical at the Bridge. To make matters worse, Burnley have lost their previous six away matches.
Tuchel will be missing some key players on Saturday but the manager has managed to deal superbly with the absences, primarily because of his squad depth. The only cause of concern is that he used a fairly strong side in midweek and with several injury concerns he will not be able to make too many changes to his starting line up.
Chelsea team news & injuries vs Burnley:
All the three first-team defenders played against Malmo and since Chelsea go into an international break after this weekend, Tuchel will be reluctant to rest any of his central defenders.
Reece James was rested on Tuesday but he is going to replace Azpilicueta as the right wing-back.
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N’Golo Kante was absent from the Champions League game and according to The Athletic’s Simon Johnson, the midfielder was not used because of potential muscle tightness.
The manager though has made it clear that the exclusion was mainly due to a precaution.
Tuchel said after the Malmo game: “We took the decision to build up N’Golo at home, so that he becomes a little bit more robust after several little injuries in the last weeks.”
Mateo Kovacic is out with a hamstring injury meaning if Kante is not used on Saturday then the pairing of Loftus-Cheek and Jorginho will start.
Mason Mount has missed the previous two matches due to an illness and we are not sure if he will be fit for the Burnley game or not. The return of Pulisic has come as the perfect time so if Mount is not available then the American international could be handed a start.
Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku will not return before the international break so Kai Havertz will once again lead the line.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Burnley:
Predicted Starting Line up(3-4-2-1): Mendy; Rudiger, Christensen, Thiago Silva; Loftus-Cheek/Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell, James; Ziyech, Mount/Pulisic; Kai Havertz.
