Burnley v Chelsea betting tips: Preview, prediction, latest odds & best bets for Premier League clash
Eden Hazard may be doubtful for Sunday's clash between Burnley and Chelsea, but George Pitts is still expecting the Blues to triumph at Turf Moor.
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2pts Willian to score anytime at 23/10
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Burnley v Chelsea (1330 KO, Turf Moor)
Chelsea will look to keep their unbeaten start under Maurizio Sarri going as they travel to Burnley in the Premier League.
The match is not televised, but is still on Sunday due to Chelsea's Europa League involvement on Thursday.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit a hat-trick for the Blues as they were 3-1 winners of BATE Borisov at Stamford Bridge. The England midfielder is yet to start a league game this term, but he certainly gave Maurizio Sarri something to think about, with the Italian admitting that 'RLC' may be more suited to him tactically than he first thought.
Questions may surround how Chelsea will bounce back and cope with the Thursday-Sunday fixtures, but last time they played in Europe (against Vidi at the start of the month), they followed that up with a 3-0 win at Southampton.
One team who seemingly could not handle the tough fixture list that comes with the competition is Burnley. The Clarets, whose season started at the end of July, will play their 17th match of the season already due to their Europa League qualifying exploits.
Sean Dyche's squad does not quite have the depth of the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, and their Premier League form was arguably affected as they failed to win their opening five matches.
They have turned it around with seven points from their last 12 and a fixture list with West Ham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Brighton in the coming weeks gives them hope of putting points on the board and moving further up the table.
Betting guide
Prediction: Burnley 1-2 Chelsea (Sky Bet odds: 8/1)
Eden Hazard may be a doubt for the Turf Moor clash, but Chelsea should still do the job here. The Blues have, even while not always playing well, been effective in sealing victories. Burnley lost 5-0 at Man City last time out and, even though they have home comforts, it does not get much easier.
Chelsea have not lost at Burnley since 1983 and that run should continue for another year, repeating the April scoreline in this match. This fixture has seen both teams score in five of the last six and Burnley can at least give their fans something to cheer about on Sunday afternoon.
Best bet: 8+ Chelsea corners at 5/4
Sarri's side are expected to dominate this one and have plenty of attacks, so the corner count could be high. In their recent league away games at Southampton and West Ham, they took 12 and eight corners respectively, while they have accumulated the third-highest corner count in the league.
Burnley, meanwhile, are bottom with just 25 in nine games. Under three Burnley corners can be backed at 11/10.
Goals: Willian at 23/10
With Hazard set to miss out, Loftus-Cheek is still not expected to come in and Brazilian playmaker Willian can step up to the plate. The 30-year-old can often be overlooked as he lurks in Hazard's shadow, but he has been fantastic for the Blues since arriving five years ago.
He was substituted around the hour against BATE, possibly with the weekend in mind, and he is well priced to get on the score sheet and add to his two goals this term. He is 13/5 in a score-and-win double while Alvaro Morata, who was rested on Thursday, will look to add to his two Chelsea goals this month and he is 11/8 anytime.
Opta statistics
- Burnley are yet to beat Chelsea at Turf Moor in a Premier League match (P4 W0 D1 L3) – their last home league win over the Blues was in April 1983 in the second tier.
- Chelsea have lost just one of their eight Premier League games against Burnley (W5 D2), a 2-3 home defeat on the opening day of last season.
- Burnley have won just two points from their last 12 home Premier League games against the ‘big six’, drawing two and losing 10 since a 2-0 win over Liverpool in August 2016.
- Chelsea are unbeaten after the first nine games of a top-flight season for just the fifth time in their history alongside 1964-65 (3rd), 1966-67 (9th), 2005-06 (1st) and 2014-15 (1st).
- Burnley have lost six of their last seven home Premier League games played on Sunday (W1), losing each of the last four in a row, including two this season against Watford (1-3) and Man Utd (0-2).
- Burnley have won seven points from their last four games (W2 D1 L1), one more than they picked up in their previous 11 Premier League matches combined.
- Maurizio Sarri could become the first Chelsea manager to remain unbeaten in his first 10 Premier League matches in charge of the club (P9 W6 D3 L0).
- This will be Burnley boss Sean Dyche’s 10th Premier League match versus an Italian manager (W3 D1 L5), with the Englishman winning three of his last six such games.
- Chelsea’s Ross Barkley has scored in each of his last two Premier League appearances; the last Englishman to net in three consecutive games for Chelsea in the top-flight was Frank Lampard in February 2013 (4).
- Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has averaged goal or assist every 66.7 minutes in the Premier League this season (7 goals + 3 assists in 667 mins); his best mins/goal involvement ratio in a single campaign in the competition.
Odds correct as of 1240 BST on 26/10/18