Chelsea and Burnley meet at Stamford Bridge this Saturday afternoon as Premier League football returns after the international break.
For Chelsea, they’ve got 11 Premier League matches to try salvage what’s been a very underwhelming campaign so far. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are still alive in the FA Cup semi-finals versus Manchester City, too.
As for Burnley, they’ve got nine matches left to drag themselves out of the relegation places. Vincent Kompany’s side are five points from safety right now, but they did beat Brentford and draw against West Ham before the two-week break.
Chelsea have confirmed via their official website that they have nine senior players on their injury list for the Burnley fixture. Speaking via the club’s YouTube channel today, Pochettino also confirmed that Ben Chilwell skipped training on Thursday with an injury problem.
Vincent Kompany praise
Burnley manager Kompany has been speaking today in his pre-match press conference about upcoming opponents Chelsea.
It’s interesting that the Premier League boss has claimed that Chelsea are a talented side with some “great” youngsters in their ranks.
Kompany said via BBC Sport: “It is a young team, so with that the one guarantee you have is that they will always get better.
“For them to finish stronger than they started is what makes sense. It’s a natural process that they are going through. They are a team with great youth prospects.
“Yes, they are also under pressure to win but it’s no different to us.”
Unfortunately, Chelsea’s quantity of young players has made them very inconsistent during the year.
Burnley without a key weapon
One of the talented youngsters on Chelsea’s books is currently out on loan at Burnley until the summer. Therefore, he’s unavailable to play this Saturday.
David Datro Fofana, who’s just 21, has emerged as a big player for Kompany’s side since arriving at Turf Moor on loan in January.
The centre-forward has scored four goals in only eight games for relegation candidates Burnley. There’s no doubt his current side will miss his pace, energy and movement at Stamford Bridge.
