Burnley vs Chelsea

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Burnley vs Chelsea F.C.

FAPL, 30 Jan 2010, Turf Moor, 1730 KO

Brian Laws takes on Chelsea in his first home match in charge, as Carlo Ancelotti's table-topping Blues look to continue their march to the title.

The former Sheffield Wednesday boss was not the universal candidate to replace the departing Owen Coyle - now on Bolton's payroll - and has already suffered two defeats in charge of his new side since taking over. The first was a Wayne Rooney-inspired demolition at Old Trafford against Manchester United in which the Clarets hit the post and found themselves denied time and time again by Edwin van der Sar.

The second was a 1-0 defeat against Reading thanks to a goal from the exceptional young talent of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who slotted home with 87 minutes on the clock. Burnley were foiled by superb saves by Adam Federeci, who impressed at Anfield with impressive stops in front of the Kop End as the Royals recorded their second Premier League scalp to continue their FA Cup renaissance.

Burnley, after a promising start to the season, have struggled somewhat. Despite doing what most have failed to do this season - leave the City of Manchester Stadium with a point rather than a trouncing - they have not recorded more than a single point away from home. Turf Moor has been their saving grace this season; beating the likes of Everton and Manchester United in front of their ferociously-vocal home supporters.

It seems a long time ago that Burnley were celebrating knocking Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal out of the Carling Cup, and sampling the tantalising taste of a Final showdown with Manchester United. This season, Chelsea have hammered the northerners at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal (and Cesc Fabregas in particular) showed their class with a superb display at Turf Moor. Times have changed drastically for Burnley.

Things have been hard for Burnley fans across the country. Their away day blues have been added to by the loss of manager Owen Coyle, whose prolonged move to Bolton was worthy enough to rival the Chelsea-Lyon transfer saga of Michael Essien's move to SW6, has left the club in turmoil and perilously close to the relegation zone. Whilst Turf Moor has been key to their success this season, the Clarets will not relish the visit of Carlo Ancelotti's side, who have now increased their unbeaten run to seven games. Having scored an impressive sixteen goals over their past four matches (and conceding only three in return), the Blues have recovered their form after a stuttering December that has seen the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United make ground up on the one-time runaway leaders of the Premier League.

But their rivals' inability to take full advantage of Chelsea's shortcomings means that the Blues are just two points off top spot with two games in hand. And, as fate should have it, Arsenal and United play each other this weekend.

This could be the day Chelsea take a massive leap towards the title. This could be the day the dream becomes a reality; that three years of frustration could be on the verge of coming to an end. It might only be January, but with the likes of Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Kalou missing, this could be a pivotal moment for Chelsea's season.

Let's just hope to God that this time we make our chances count.

MATCH CHAT HERE

[Drogba11CFC 108]

I'll be watching this in a pub...maybe after watching a Weesex Premier league game.

[zolayes 14,489]

I'll be watching this in a pub...maybe after watching a Weesex Premier league game.

are BOTH games on TV?????

[Drogba11CFC 108]

No, but my (now local) team are playing at home.

[Laylabelle 9,360]

Time again to take advantage and start getting our away form back on track

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Will Drogba be included in the squad for this game ? I hope so , tough away fixture.

[NoFear 23]

Expect Drogs to feature as a sub.. But yea.. hes definitely gonna be in for the Hull game..

[Shane 2,275]

Sweet its on ESPN Very very tough place to go to underlights, Arsenal and United both failed to win there. I think we can hold them to 0-0 in the first half and then a quickfire double in the second its the way to win this one.

[zolayes 14,489]

Sweet its on ESPN Very very tough place to go to underlights, Arsenal and United both failed to win there. I think we can hold them to 0-0 in the first half and then a quickfire double in the second its the way to win this one.

better our recent fast starts two up inside 30mins much less stressful

[warnie_666 1,081]

The problem is, who would you keep out to include Drogba?

Malouda is playing like he did during the Hiddink Era, Joe Cole put in an excellent performance, Deco with his defensive Playmaking skills has been a revelation in the last two games, Ballack always there with a decent performance heklping Deco in defense. And Anelka playing like never before.....

I would keep Drogba on the bench and start off with the same team.

Note that Ancelloti has never repeated the same team in two back to back games...

[Ray. 217]

Looking at their last 4 home fixtures, and they have drawn, starting with Villa, Fulham, The Arse, and then Bolton. I think we can do better than a draw and will come away with a win. I've predicted 4-0, which I know might be a tad optimistic, but think we can achieve this.

[Ray. 217]

Looking at their last 4 home fixtures, which they have drawn, starting with Villa, Fulham, The Arse, and then Bolton. I think we can do better than a draw and will come away with a win. I've predicted 4-0, which I know might be a tad optimistic, but think we can achieve this.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Blueray

[Shane 2,275]

Looking at their last 4 home fixtures, and they have drawn, starting with Villa, Fulham, The Arse, and then Bolton. I think we can do better than a draw and will come away with a win. I've predicted 4-0, which I know might be a tad optimistic, but think we can achieve this.

There is no way in hell that we will win 4-0 here. A win of any sort would be a massive result.

[bombayblue™ 55]

This one is going to be tougher than many people think..

Can still envisage a 0-2 win.. Drogba starting will show just what we have been missing even though the results may not show it..

[millzy_chelsea_fan 4]

the line up should be:-

cech

ivanovic

carvalho

terry

a.cole

deco

lampard

malouda

j.cole

anelka

sturridge

[Toft 7]

Snatched up this information from Carlo's Pre-Match press conferance:

- No Drogba or Kalou. They won't join the squad traveling to Burnley.

- Deco and Carvalho are under doubt. Carlo is monitoring their condition, obviously they are tired after last match.

Carlo didn't reveal the line-up at the Pre-Match press conferance this time. I reckon we wil start with something similar to this:

------------Cech--------------

Ivanovic--Alex-Terry--A. Cole

Lampard---Ballack---Zhirkov

J. Cole----Anelka----Malouda

With Deco too tired to play, our midfield looks really thin. I would like to see Matic take the defensive role at midfield, since we don't really have any sentral midfielders except from Ballack and Lampard. He's been showing great form when given the chance. Zhirkov's maybe the other choice. But he might be too offensive to play at the midfield.

[NattyBlue 44]

Midfield does indeed look thin, I believe Matic could handle the game too in the dmf role, he's really technically gifted and can distribute a ball well, not afraid to get stuck in either

Burnley haven't scored or got a point since Coyle left so hopefully that run will continue.

Toughest game we've had in Jan but I thought Brum at home would be tough and it wasn't, you never know though!

Bah is it on ESPN in UK too? if so i'll have to watch it from my phone lol

Edited January 30, 2010 by NattyBlue

[Blue in NY 26]

If anyone has a link to the game, it would be much appreciated.

I don't know if you guys across the pond like the late start, but it's a 12:30 start here so I'm ok with getting some sleep tomorrow. Let's quiet the crowd early, and control the game with the confidence we've been playing with.