Chelsea vs. Burnley – EPL, January 31, 2021

Thomas Tuchel takes charge of his second game as Chelsea manager – but has a little more than the few hours’ preparation he was afforded for the game against Wolves on Wednesday.

Burnley will be a good test for the former PSG head coach, as he attempts to turn around some poor performances shown by the London club.

Burnley has looked the better side of these two in the last few games but is still considered a long shot by oddsmakers for Sunday’s game. The new manager effect could be a factor for Chelsea, though, as players aim to impress the new boss in what is only his second game in charge.

Thomas Tuchel entered the Stamford Bridge dugout only hours after touching down in the UK on Wednesday and will now have had a few days to work with his new players ahead of what will be a tough fixture against an improved Burnley. It will be interesting to see how much he changes the starting eleven, as compared to Frank Lampard’s team.

There are already reports that he is looking to use N’Golo Kante in a more defensive position – and the French midfielder may well be able to make a return from injury for this game. Tuchel may also look to utilize Timo Werner and Kai Havertz more, as he will know them from his time in the Bundesliga.

Sean Dyche will more than likely be taking little interest in how his Chelsea counterpart is planning for this game – and concentrate, instead, on how to continue the winning ways his Burnley side has discovered recently. Back-to-back victories over Liverpool and Aston Villa have taken the Clarets away from the bottom three.

The win over Villa in the week was an excellent performance, as Burnley came from behind twice and scored two goals in quick succession to win the game in the end. That coming straight after the shock win at Anfield must have put the players in a good mood, and they will surely be up for ruining Tuchel’s weekend.

It could take a while before we see just how Tuchel is going to use the wealth of talent at his disposal – and whether any players favored by Lampard are left out of the starting eleven. But he will already have a good idea of how he wants the team to play, and his experience at some of the biggest clubs in the world suggests that he will not tolerate losing. That shouldn’t be a problem this weekend.