Burnley v Chelsea preview: Emerson Palmieri set to feature for Blues

Emerson Palmieri is in line for his first Premier League start as Chelsea travel to Burnley on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.

The left-back has only featured as a substitute since joining from Roma in January, but is set to start as Marcos Alonso faces a potential ban following an incident with Southampton's Shane Long.

Chelsea may also rotate from their 3-2 win at Southampton as they prepare to meet the same opponents in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday.

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"We have the same recovery time [as Southampton] after this week's games before the semi-final," said manager Antonio Conte. "To play two games in two-and-a-half days is not simple."

Chelsea's hopes of a top-four finish were given a slight boost by Tottenham drawing at Brighton on Tuesday.

However, the Blues still trail Spurs by eight points, and Conte said: "If we want to be realistic with five games to go, it's not simple to reduce the gap, but we must have the will to fight, the desire to take this target. Why not?

"We have an important game against Burnley, a really strong team having a fantastic season, and it won't be easy to get three points."

Burnley beat Chelsea on the opening day of the season and could cement their place in seventh with another victory.

They have won their last five games in a row to open up a nine-point lead over eighth-placed Leicester.

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Team news

Danny Drinkwater is a doubt for Chelsea due to a groin injury. David Luiz and Ethan Ampadu, owing to respective long-term knee and ankle injuries, are both absent.

Burnley will still be without defender Ben Mee and winger Scott Arfield. Mee has missed the last two matches after suffering a stress reaction at the bottom of his shin, but has an outside chance of returning against Stoke on Sunday, while Arfield has been sidelined for two months by a calf problem.

Jon Walters has recovered from his knee problem, but needs to get match fit, having only played twice since September, while Steven Defour and Robbie Brady (both knee) both have some way to go.

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Match stats

• Burnley won the reverse of this fixture on the opening weekend - their first top-flight victory over Chelsea since August 1973.
• Chelsea haven't lost both league meetings in a season against Burnley since the 1968-69 campaign.
• Burnley haven't done the league double against the reigning top-flight champions since 1953-54, when they beat Arsenal home and away.
• Chelsea have scored in all seven of their Premier League meetings with Burnley; only against Wigan (16), Derby and Portsmouth (14 each) do they have a better 100% scoring record in the competition.
• Chelsea have only lost one of their six Premier League games on a Thursday (W3 D2), with that defeat coming in their last such match (3-5 vs Tottenham, January 2015).
• Sam Vokes scored twice at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture - no player has ever scored at least twice in two Premier League meetings against the Blues within the same season.

Merson's prediction

I think Burnley are ridiculous odds to beat Chelsea here. With the FA Cup semi-final coming up, it's a great bet. We saw on Saturday Chelsea didn't even want to be there in the first 70 minutes against Southampton, it was only when Olivier Giroud came on did they look energetic and urgent. He wanted to prove something.

You can't go 2-0 down at Burnley, they're a completely different side to Southampton. Burnley have been outstanding.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (12/1 with Sky Bet)

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