Chelsea will be bidding to make it eight straight wins in all competitions when they continue their Premier League campaign at home to Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues are currently top of the table, picking up 25 points from their opening 10 matches, while Burnley occupy 18th, having collected just seven points from their first 10 games of 2021-22.
Match preview
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There is still an awful lot of football to be played in the 2021-22 Premier League season, but Chelsea have been the standout team in the competition this term, winning eight, drawing one and losing one of their 10 matches to collect 25 points, which has left them three points clear of second-placed Liverpool at the summit.
While the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have all had their problems this season, Chelsea have continued to pick up points, and the fact that they have only conceded three times in their first 10 league games of the season is not good news for their rivals for the title.
The Blues have won each of their last seven matches across three separate competitions, including a 3-0 victory away to Newcastle United in the Premier League, while they beat Malmo 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night to move within touching distance of the last-16 stage of the competition.
Thomas Tuchel's side will be desperate to keep hold of first position in the league entering the international break, particularly considering that they will end November with fixtures against Leicester City and Man United, before taking on Watford and West Ham United away at the start of December.
Chelsea have won each of their last four matches at Stamford Bridge, while they have won their last four Premier League games against Burnley, scoring 12 times and conceding just twice in the process.
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Burnley have actually been victorious in just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Chelsea, suffering 10 defeats in the process, so confidence in Sean Dyche's camp will hardly be flowing ahead of Saturday's contest.
The Clarets have won one, drawn four and lost five of their opening 10 league games of the season to collect seven points, which has left them in 18th position in the table, three points from the safety of 17th position.
Burnley's first league victory of the campaign came last time out, though, with Chris Wood, Matthew Lowton and Maxwel Cornet on the scoresheet in a 3-1 victory over Brentford at Turf Moor.
Dyche's side also managed to pick up a point away to Leicester at the end of September, while they gave a good account of themselves in a 2-0 loss at Man City in the middle of October, and the group of players are certainly capable of making this a tricky assignment for Chelsea.
Defeat for Burnley would not be the end of the world here, but they have two important home fixtures against Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur to come after the international break, and Dyche will not want his team to be sitting in and around the relegation zone approaching the Christmas period.
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Team News
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Chelsea will again be without the services of Romelu Lukaku, Mateo Kovacic and Timo Werner through injury, while Mason Mount remains a doubt due to illness despite returning to training on Thursday.
N'Golo Kante was not used against Malmo in the Champions League on Tuesday but could be available here; Tuchel, though, will find it difficult to drop Ruben Loftus-Cheek to the bench due to the Englishman's impressive display last time out.
Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi are expected to support Kai Havertz in the final third of the field, while Reece James and Ben Chilwell should come back into the side in the wing-back areas, having been left on the bench for the European contest during the week.
Marcos Alonso was also ruled out of the match by Tuchel during Friday's press conference, with the Spaniard suffering with an ankle problem.
As for Burnley, Dyche revealed during Thursday's pre-match press conference that Dale Stephens is still unavailable due to a foot injury, while Aaron Lennon is a doubt through illness.
The visitors are otherwise in good shape, and it would not be a surprise to see the same XI that took to the field for the first whistle against Brentford, with Cornet joining Wood in the final third of the field.
Indeed, a 4-4-2 formation should see Dwight McNeil and Johann Berg Gudmundsson operate in the wide areas, with Josh Brownhill joining Westwood in the middle of the park.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell; Ziyech, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Westwood, McNeil; Wood, Cornet
We say: Chelsea 3-1 Burnley
Burnley are certainly a threat in the final third of the field, and we are expecting the visitors to get their name on the scoresheet at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are flying, though, and we believe that the league leaders will continue their excellent start to the season by claiming another three points here.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Chelsea win with a probability of 77.97%. A draw had a probability of 14.4% and a win for Burnley had a probability of 7.61%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.06%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.06%) and 1-0 (10.29%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.86%), while for a Burnley win it was 0-1 (2.7%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood.
