The last time Chelsea faced Burnley, there was a huge cry of frustration from the fans. It ended in a 1-1 draw, but the scoreline told only half the story. The Blues were just far from clinical. A Kai Havertz goal was met with a late Matej Vydra equaliser.
It felt like the longest match I watched from Chelsea all season. The Blues now have it all to prove. They travel to Turf Moor in the hopes to get three points to bridge the gap in third place.
However, they must learn from their past mistakes for them to do this. Thomas Tuchel probably already knows what to do, but here are three necessities that he must consider.
Ross Barkley verdict
Chelsea’s last meet with the Clarets took fans by surprise with the introduction of Barkley. It was quite the unorthodox choice from Tuchel. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic being shoved to the bench. We were fighting for our top spot back then. Now we are fighting for fourth. Some argue that we didn’t necessarily need the win, but I’d say every match that we played was a must-win.
I hate to single out a player, but Barkley gave far from a performance to remember. The 27-year-old missed a crucial chance to bring the three points home, and I’ve struggled to get over it ever since. Today’s front three should see Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech, and Mount. Ziyech’s form has been out of this world lately, and, unfortunately, another injury ruptured his incredible run. Let’s try and strengthen the deep Burnley backline and hopefully bury our chances.
Tuchel has announced that Ziyech has made good progress and is back in training. It’ll be amazing to see him straight back into that starting lineup. If Barkley makes it to the pitch for whatever reason, it would be his 100th appearance for the club.
Clinical finishes
With this Chelsea team, they are coached to perfection, and more times than not, they give solid enough performances to score at least three goals. Considering that the boys in blue can create chances for one another, it would be nice to see them finished! It’s always a laugh watching back old footage and seeing how many opportunities we wasted.
The last meet with Burnely saw the Blues miss four big chances and ended with an XG of 2.28, according to Futmob. It was an easily coached win against a quite frankly, poor Burnley side.
I often say that we need a little bit of luck to get things over the line, but not on this occasion. Misses from Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Barkley were borderline unforgivable. It was one of those matches you watch and can just see exactly where it is going. Miss after miss, chance after chance, it was a shame that we didn’t come away with three goals in the end.
Strong Mentality
There is so much happening with the club right now. With Roman Abramovich confirming the imminent sale of Chelsea, many of the fans are in a state of panic. I am 100% sure that the players are too. They will need to overcome the adversity faced right in front of them to take home these important three points. Their strength in mentality will be the shining light out of a dark situation.
It is a lot to ask for at this time, but the performance in the FA Cup win against Luton Town spoke volumes. Just an hour before kick-off, the club had released a statement from Abramovich, confirming that he is indeed selling the club. With players whose contract runs out this year or next, there must have been a wave of anxiety to handle.
They all handled it well given the circumstances and overcame going down twice in a 3-2 win.
Overall, I’m just asking for a win — a much more clinical performance than the last match-up. I don’t think my heart can take any more wild misses. I trust Tuchel to line us up appropriately. He may have underestimated just how tough it is to play such a well-drilled side. A Sean Dyche master class can be one of the most annoying games of football that you could ever watch. Let’s hope that our visit to Turf Moor is not one to forget.
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