Burnley vs. Chelsea – EPL, October 31, 2020

This EPL season has been full of surprises so far, but Burnley struggling in the early weeks was probably one of the more predictable features of the campaign.

The Clarets looked like they would find the going tough when the club failed to bring in many new faces in the summer. Chelsea’s transfer window was completely different of course, but Frank Lampard is still trying to find his best starting eleven.

BetOnline fancies Chelsea to follow up a point at Old Trafford with another three this weekend at Burnley. But it is the home side that might be more confident after only narrowly losing to a Spurs side that had been scoring a lot of goals up until last weekend. The odds for a draw might be of interest if Chelsea fails to get going early.

After five games, all Burnley has to show is one point and three goals scored – with none of those coming at home. But there is a sliver of hope emerging for Sean Dyche after the performance against Spurs last week. The result was another defeat but the home side equipped itself well and it needs to take confidence where it can at the moment.

If it can bully the Chelsea midfield – which is admittedly easier said than done – then Chris Wood will be able to cause problems up front and could continue what has been a very underrated few years at Turf Moor. There will be easier games to come for Burnley, but a good performance here could change its fortunes.

Chelsea has a wealth of talent at its disposal. But Frank Lampard has not always seemed to know how to use it to its greatest effect. The goalless draw with Manchester United last week was a good point won, but it was largely down to the goalkeeping display of Edouard Mendy and a defensive trio that looked more assured than usual.

It is curious how the many expensive additions to the attacking part of the squad were unable to offer more than one shot on target all game. But there are plenty to choose from. If Timo Werner can start this game well, he could give the Burnley defense a torrid time on Saturday.

Chelsea should win this game but it is a team that doesn’t always perform – especially away from its London home. Burnley looked a much better team against Spurs than it had done previously – and if Sean Dyche can get his players to put everything into this one, it could end up in a low-scoring draw.