Thursday Premier League – Burnley vs Chelsea Preview
April 19th 2018 19:45 – Turf Moor
Recent Form (League)
Burnley: WWWWW
Chelsea: LWLDW
Burnley’s incredible season continues, a victory over Leicester 2-1 at Turf Moor made it five wins on the spin for one of the pre-season favourites for relegation. They have not lost a Premier League game since the early February, and will hope to continue this amazing run over an inconsistent Chelsea.
The Clarets look likely to secure a stunning Europa League qualification spot. They now hold a nine point lead over eighth-placed Leicester and are only two points behind Arsenal above them in sixth. Even if they just hold on to seventh it’s likely they will make it into Europe, with Southampton winning the FA Cup the only way that a spanner could be thrown in the works.
Their excellent season started with that shock 3-2 win at Stamford, and they will feel they have the edge at Turf Moor too. Sean Dyche’s men endured a difficult 11 match winless run during the winter months but Dyche altered his team’s formation to get them back on winning ways.
Chelsea on the other hand have put up a woeful defence of their Premier League crown, currently 27 points behind newly crowned champions Manchester City and seven points off a Champions League position.
Following their dismal 1-1 draw at home to West Ham, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down against relegation threatened Southampton but turned it around won 3-2. The future of head coach Antonio Conte looks more and more uncertain and in all probability he will be leaving at the end of the season. The Blues have won just three of their last nine in the Premier League and have lost five times during this run. Away from home they have lost three of their last four.
This is largely down to a complete collapse of their defensive stability, illustrated by the fact that they have conceded nine goals in these four games. They have managed to score in seven of their last 10 trips away in the league, but they have only kept two clean sheets.
Chelsea still have the chance of silverware this season and their attentions could be on their FA Cup semi-final against Southampton on Sunday, a dangerous thing to do with Burnley full of confidence and on such a great run of form.
Prediction:
Back the home win with Betfair.