Mauricio Pochettino has said Chelsea are prepared for the ‘physical’ challenge Burnley will pose this weekend.
Chelsea host the struggling Clarets at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with both teams in need of results to salvage their season. The west Londoners are 11th in the Premier League table, five points behind West Ham in the European places with two games in hand.
Burnley – whose starting XI has the youngest average age this season at 24 years and 257 days – are 19th and five points adrift of safety.
The Clarets enter the game in positive mood, however, after beating Brentford last time out and Pochettino is preparing for a difficult test against Vincent Kompany’s side.
“It’s going to be difficult. They are a team that play with freedom and are very physical,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference.
“They have good young players so it will be tough.
“We need to win and perform well but the Premier League never has an easy game.
“I think Burnley are an exciting team to watch and Vincent Kompany is doing great, particularly last season.
“It’s not just about points because you can see the potential of their team.”
Pochettino said Chelsea will assess Ben Chilwell ahead of the game after the left-back picked up a knock on international duty with England.
“We still need to assess a few players like Ben Chilwell as he got a knock to his leg.
“He wasn’t all right to train today so we will need to assess him ahead of tomorrow.
“I was a little bit surprised that he started two games for England and now he’s had a knock, but we need him available to play for our club.”
