Chelsea: Three key clashes away to a bad Burnley

Chelsea continues their away journeys with a trip to Burnley. The side hasn’t been doing so well this season, so what key clashes might split the game?

It is too early to say the Blues have built momentum anywhere but in goal yet, but that is the endgame for these fixtures. Next up is a Burnley side that has had a horrid start to the season. Still winless, Sean Dyche’s team did manage to make Tottenham work for it just last week. What key clashes might determine this fixture for either side?

1. New blood versus old ideas

In the prematch press conference, Frank Lampard was asked if he planned to be at Chelsea as long as Sean Dyche had been at Burnley (eight years now). He dodged the question mainly on the basis of you have to look at the short term and anything can happen in the long term. Regardless, the question, in addition to the one last time about bias with English managers, struck to the heart of this issue.

Lampard is the new blood. He wouldn’t want to be called the bannerman for the modern English manager (indeed, Eddie Howe probably led that charge) but he might now be the most prominent. Dyche is the old English manager. He isn’t Sam Allardyce, but he is as close as the world will get now.

This will be a battle between new ideas like pressing, positional play, and overloads versus old fashioned ideas like two banks of four, chalk on the boots, and to the target man. Mind, it has worked wonderfully for Burnley over the years despite their propensity to be great one season and completely awful the next.

Burnley gave Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham a run for their money with the North London side only barely coming out ahead. The Blues will need to be clever on attack to break through Dyche’s side, regardless of their current state.

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2. New found set piece solidarity versus set piece super heroes

Burnley has traditionally loved a set piece goal. Chelsea in recent years has loved to concede them. But think about it; when was the last time the Blues conceded off of a set piece?

When Anthony Barry joined from Wigan early in the season, one of the key points was that he was a set piece guy. His introduction, as well as the signings of Thiago Silva and Edouard Mendy have coincided with a drop in set piece goals.

That doesn’t mean the Blues should kick back and assume the issue is fixed of course. Especially right now with Burnley being poor, they will look to score on set pieces rather than in an open play. Bad as they may be right now, they will test Lampard’s Chelsea is they are not fully unprepared.

The recent clean sheets came through hard work and that will have to continue regardless of the opposition.

3. Rest versus returns

It has been a common theme since the Krasnodar lineup was announced, but Lampard has to find a time to rest and rotate his players. Krasnodar, regardless of its status as a Champions League fixture, was surely the ideal time. Burnley is as close as it may get in the Premier League right now, but that would be much riskier than rotating against the Russian side.

That being said, something will have to give before something does give on a player. Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have started five straight since they came off the bench for Germany on 10 October. Jorginho has started six straight since he was unfeatured for Italy on 7 October. Kurt Zouma and Ben Chilwell have played four straight since the international break.

That is five players who have been used since the break and of the five, only Zouma might get rested through the international break. It would be risky to make sweeping changes for a Premier League match, but that is also what Chelsea built the roster for this season.

Just from the Krasnodar starting XI, those five could come out for Thiago Silva, Emerson or Reece James, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham. All but Silva were at the club last year and starters for a large swath of the season if not all of it. They should be able to handle Burnley.

But the main idea is Lampard has to rotate these tired legs at some point. If he doesn’t, he may not have the option to do so come the winter slog the other side of the international break.

What key clashes do you expect from this match? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!