Premier League betting tips 30/01/09

Burnley vs Chelsea betting preview

Saturdays late kick off pits newly promoted Burnley against favourites for the Premier League crown, Chelsea.  Chelsea are clear favourites to win the match having been priced at 1/3 on, and the draw being priced at 9/2.  The odds then are clearly against Burnley at 10/1, but having already beaten Manchester United and drawn with Arsenal at Turf Moor, the Yorkshire club will go into the fixture with nothing to fear and in search of their first win under former Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws. 

Chelsea are looking to follow up their victory over in form Birmingham, who hadn’t lost in 15 games prior to their meeting, with another victory here.  Chelsea may welcome back African Cup of Nations players Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou, but Michael Essien, who injured his knee whilst training during the tournament in Angola, is out for an expected six weeks and will definitely miss out.  Burnley however may give a debut to Leon Cort having signed him from Stoke for a fee of 1.5 million in an attempt to tighten up their somewhat leaky defence.  Burnley fans will be hoping their team can bounce back from their one nil defeat at the hands of Bolton on Tuesday night, which will have hurt more so than often as their former manager Owen Coyle left only weeks ago to join Bolton.  This move was seen as a betrayal by some Burnley fans who showed ‘Judas’ posters at the match.

By avoiding defeat on Saturday, Burnley could climb out of the bottom three, with them currently sitting fourth from bottom on goal difference only.  Chelsea meanwhile will be looking to widen their gap on the Manchester United and Arsenal by doing something neither of them could achieve, winning at Turf Moor.

Chelsea’s run of form has improved in recent weeks, after only managing draws against West Ham and Birmingham in recent weeks, Chelsea have now won their last five in all competitions scoring nineteen goals in the process and only conceding three.  This record dispelled any ideas people had that they would struggle when their African players left.  In contrast Burnley have only won one of their last five, against lower league MK Dons.  In this time they have conceded eight goals and only scored two, leaving fans wondering when the strike partnership of David Nugent and Steven Fletcher will begin to hit some form, with the pair only hitting twelve goals between them all season, Fletcher getting 3/4 of this total.

Chelsea then are odds on favourites to win their sixth game in a row and plunge more misery on already struggling Burnley, but football doesn’t always go to the script and Brian Laws will be hoping his side can get their first win under his guidance.

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