Burnley vs Chelsea Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Predicted Score

Chelsea kick start their Premier League campaign tonight when they take on newly-promoted Burnley at Turf Moor.

Jose Mourinho’s men go into the new season as the early title favourites after bringing in Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis and Didier Drogba to supplement a squad that finished third last year.

The Blues will be keen to get their first win on the board after seeing rivals Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool all register wins over the weekend and they will be confident of doing so against one of this seasons relegation candidates.

Burnley are being widely tipped to head straight back down to the Championship but Sean Dyche will be desperate to prove people wrong and get a moral-boosting result against Chelsea this evening.

Team News

Burnley will be without Sam Vokes as he continues to recover from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that he picked up back in March.

New signing Lukas Jutkiewicz is pushing to start up front alongside Danny Ings but Dyche is likely to play a little more defensively with just one up top, so he may have to make do with a place among the substitutes.

Fellow new signings Michael Kightly, Steven Reid, Marvin Sordell and Matt Taylor are also pushing to make their debuts, while goalkeeper Tom Heaton is fit to play despite suffering a calf injury recently.

The big decision for Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is who to start in goal with both Petr Cech and Tiabaut Courtois vying for the No.1 jersey, but most of the papers and pundits think it will be the young Belgian who gets the nod.

Didier Drogba is hoping to be fit from an ankle injury to be in the squad but he’s likely to be among the subs. Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis and Diego Costa should all make their competitive debuts.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Cesc Fabregas: The Spaniard made a shock switch from Barcelona earlier in the summer and the pressure will be on the former Arsenal skipper to perform for the Blues.

Predicted Score

Burnley 0-2 Chelsea: Burnley haven’t beaten Chelsea in a league game since 1983 and the Blues haven’t lost an opening game since 1998, so we can see only one winner tonight.

What’s your predicted score for the game? Share your views below.