Talking tactics: Chelsea host the always weird Burnley

Chelsea hosts professional worm eater Sean Dyche’s Burnley side. Burnley remains as weird of a side as they ever have been with Dyche.

It is almost hard to believe that last season Burnley finished in a Europa League spot. They crashed out of that early and have fought relegation for most of the season. But when 2019 hit, their bad form started to disappear as they looked more like the Burnley of old.

It would be easy to call Sean Dyche the modern Sam Allardyce. But Dyche has something Allardyce rarely had: the magic to defy averages. Dyche’s Burnley has been documented to massively outperform their expected stats. This season, they have largely reverted to their old averages.

But Burnley are weird for two reasons. The first is that they rarely dip below their own averages. The second is they often outperform them for seemingly no real reason. That makes Burnley a very tricky side to plan against because it feels like luck is often on their side.

Burnley rarely deviates from their 4-4-2 formation. Yes, this is classic old school English football from one of the most English squads in the Premier League. Occasionally they get saucy and mix it up with a 4-4-1-1 but it is rare.

Offensively and defensively, they have a set up that would make Allardyce proud. A compact and stingy 4-4-2 defense holds the opponent at bay before they win the ball back through attrition. A long ball over the top goes to either a chalk on their boots winger or a target man who smacks it to a rushing player.

It is a brutal, simple, and often effective way of play for Dyche’s side. They put on few frills as they get their jobs done and that often seems to catch other teams unprepared.

They are dominant in the air which also leads to them being dominant on set pieces. When they cannot score through counters, they will simply look for a free kick or corner to force their way through another way.

Chelsea crushed Burnley in the reverse fixture but that was a much different time for both teams. Chelsea was flying high at the time and Burnley was sinking. But that match was also one of the first where cracks started to show in Sarrismo. Before Pedro came off injured, Chelsea was not in control of the match by any means.

If Burnley can find that same fire, Chelsea is going to struggle. The Blues often have a hard time against compact defenses looking to counter. Chelsea is also very poor in the air and set pieces are random for the Blues. Like most matches like this, it could just as easily be a roll over by Chelsea as a capitulation.

Sarri needs to solve the second half issue Chelsea always faces if the Blues are to get past Burnley. As Slavia Prague showed, even if the job looks done in the first half, the adjustments heading into the second can make Chelsea sweat. Dyche knows what he is doing and lives to get one over on the top six and their continental managers and players. Sarri needs to get the mentality right before Dyche pulls something out of his magician’s hat.