Chelsea v Burnley: Premier League – live!

Want a break from unstoppable football? Hard lines, because Leicester-Leeds is about to kick-off.

Elsewhere, Chelsea’s women team are also having a good day, leading Spurs 3-0. Rob Smyth has the latest on that one.

Chelsea played pretty well there, though Burnley offered them little. In particular, Mason Mount made his case for inclusion, while Marcos Alonso did himself no harm either. With Spurs coming next in a game that’s crucial –at all times, but particular so given the top-four situation – we’ll get a decent idea of what Tuchel thinks on Thursday.

Chelsea have their first win under Thomas Tuchel which takes them from 11th to seventh; that’s their first home win in three. Burnley stay 16th.

90+4 min The corner is a goodun, picking out Tarkowski at the far post … but he heads over. That was a great chance, and the only one Burnley have created today.

90+3 min Burnley win a free-kick down the right and the centre-backs trot forward, but Thiago Silva gets a head on McNeill’s cross and the ball flies behind.

90+1 min Havertz sends Pulisic away down the left and streaks forward while pointing where he wants the return. But Pulisic aims for Werner one over, trying an outside-of-the-boot square ball, which has too much on it.

88 min “Re Giancarlo Sandoval’s 50th minute comment about how Tuchel changes squad to adapt to the opponent,” says Mike MacKenzie, “I’m reminded of something a certain L. Messi said when Barca were in their heyday. When asked about how they prepare for the opposition he said that Barca doesn’t spend much time analysing the other team but instead focuses on what they want to do. Of course, when you know you’ll have the ball most of the time, that is an easier approach to adopt.”

Yes, exactly that. Good teams can do what they do, less good teams need to adapt. Tuchel is a rarity in that aspect.

87 min Mumbongo breaks clear and, coming in from the right, he’s on-on-one with Mendy! But his low shot clips the near post on its way wide, after which the flag goes up.

86 min Chelsea travel to Spurs on Thursday, which should be an interesting little encounter. I’m not sure their defence is equipped to handle Kane and Son if they play well, but on other hand, Spurs’ defence will struggle with Mount and Hudson-Odoi.

Another brilliant full-back finish! This time, Alonso slides Pulisic outside him, mooches into the box, and when the cross arrives to him at the near post, he leaps to chest, chucks in a knee to set, and then absolutely dematerialises a shot into the roof. Game over.

83 min Nice from Chelsea, Werner sliding Havertz down the line, and his low cross finds Pulisic but offering him a very tight angle from which to run the ball across his foot, and Pope saves easily enough.

82 min That said, they’ve got a small squad and it’d be no surprise if their players were knackered following two monumental efforts against Liverpool and Villa. I’ve no a clue what the games are going to look like in March and April, but it feels like quality is dropping already.

81 min Burnley have been really disappointing today, offering very little

79 min Chelsea are still seeking a clincher, which makes sense. Burnley don’t have the speed or quality to make a counter-attack equaliser likely, and they can’t score from a corner if they’re pinned back inside their own box.

76 min Kovacic, who we’ve barely seen this half, larrups a dreadful shot in the direction of Selhurst Park.

75 min And here he is now, controlling a decent crossfield ball from Jorginho before driving a low shot that Pope just about saves with his legs.

74 min I really like James, who has a lot of attributes. He needs to work on his defending – what 21-year-old doesn’t – so this formation should suit him.

73 min Change for Chelsea, Reece James replacing Hudson-Odoi. I’m a little surprised at that, as he looked likely to create a clincher, but there’s another round of midweek fixtures coming, for which he’ll be needed.

71 min Mount and Hudson-Odoi are ganging up on poor old Pieters and here they come again, Pulisic using the pace of the latter’s cross to sweep with the line of the ball, the finish going just wide. Hudson-Odoi, scorer of two Premier League goals, is not at all impressed.

70 min Mount, who’s been excellent – I’m not sure he’ll be sub again anytime soon – rushes forward and punches a low pass that Pulisic can’t quite control.

69 min Mount slides a gentle ball inside Brady, who isn’t paying any kind of attention, and Hudson-Odoi passes a low cross into the middle at which Mee desperately slides, sending it just past the post. For a split-second, that looked like an own goal.

68 min Something from Burnley, for the first time this half and maybe even for the first time this match, McNeill drilling a low cross that Azpilicueta blocks, just about.

66 min “I am an Everton fan, sigh,” says Mary Waltz, “and normally I would not say this about any Chelsea player but I am actually starting to feel pity for Werner. He has the look of Job stuck in the pit of misery.”

He doesn’t look so bad in general play, but you get that awful feeling he doesn’t want chances to fall to him at the moment. I should add that on one quiet Europa Thursday night, Mary recommended Robert A. Caro’s book the Power Broker to me, which I now recommend to any off youse interested in the twin arms of power and prose.

63 min Chelsea have done a really good job of shutting Burnley down, which I guess reflects a downside of their style. When you sit deep and look to go forward with long balls, it’s much easier for opponents to sustain their attacks and build tempo.

60 min Oh dear. Chris Wood is down with some kind of leg behaviour, possibly a hamstring; that’ll be his afternoon done, and Gudmundsson replaces him.

58 min Mount spreads to Hudson-Odoi, who isolates Pieters, shifts onto his right foot, and clatters a shot which again Pieters deflects … this time onto the post. On which point, I should note that at half-time we learnt that Azpilicueta sprinted 76 yards to get outside his winger to score.

56 min “It’s all about percentages at times,” Steve McManaman says of Burnley – work that one out. Anyway, they win a corner and before it’s taken replace Vydra with the aforementioned Rodriguez. But McNeill’s delivery is poor and the ball goes behind off Brady.

56 min Jay Rodriguez was warming up a couple of minutes ago, which makes sense – if Dyche leaves this much longer, his team could be two goals down.

54 min Rudiger finds himself on the ball, 25 yards out; “Go on son, have a dig,” they say to him (were Andy Gray commentating). “Alright lads, I will, and I’ll show you exactly why I’m, a centre-back,” he responds.

53 min “All strikers are bound to fail at Chelsea, because the team doesn’t play to the strength of their strikers,” reckons Ellie Motsipa. “They only did with Drogba and Costa, maybe because they were very demanding and vocal. All coaches have missed this key factor at Chelsea.”

I’m not sue – it’s hard to say from the outside – but the main thing is that Drogba and Costa were very good players.

52 min This is the best I’ve seen Hudson-Odoi play for Chelsea, and fed in by Azpilicueta, he injects some pace then whips over a cross that Werner heads hard … but too close to Pope.

50 min “Re: ‘However, the majority of successful teams play the same way in pretty much every game and this squad needs a lot of work to get serious,” returns Giancarlo Sandoval.

“Interesting, only Tuchel does not think this at all. His teams change and adapt to the team they are playing and adaptability is valued over fixed formations. I am taking this from his Rulebreaker talk, where he says he is always surprised that in interviews before the game he is asked about his six changes every game and he doesn’t really mind. (Also shout-out to all the pieces about his tactics this week).”

I agree, but it’s unusual. Klopp almost always plays 4-3-3, likewise Guardiola, Fergie and Wenger were 4-4-2 then 4-3-3 and so on. When you have a way of playing, it’s much easier to swap players in and out – but even then, you don’t get the same cohesion.

49 min Again, the corner is cleared as far as Jorginho, and this time he keeps the attack going, Azpilicueta’s cross hitting Mee’s arm and flying behind. There’s a quiet penalty shout, but nothing doing and rightlo so. Burnley are struggling to get out here.

49 min Werner looks to go outside Mee, who blocks his low cross behind.

47 min Lovely turn from Mount, who takes a short pass and spins, playing Alonso in, whose cross is blocked behind.