Wartime food rationing was introduced 80 years ago this month but as Chelsea dig for victory at Stamford Bridge over the coming weeks the menu beats anything available – even on the black market: Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, then Bayern Munich.

Before all that, the Blues are aiming to complete the set of home and away league victories over Burnley for the first time since the 2009/10 Double season. Christian Pulisic revelled in that reverse fixture at Turf Moor back in October, scoring a perfect hat-trick to savour in the 4-2 success.

Another victory would be welcome. The Blues ended the festive season well clear of the chasing pack but have sometimes come unstuck on home soil against struggling sides. And as things stand Burnley, impressive performers since they were promoted in 2016, are just three points above the relegation shelves.

The Clarets have the lowest passing accuracy in the division (68 per cent) and, flying in the face of their reputation for feistiness, have made the fewest tackles.

Sean Dyche’s team have netted just four times in their past eight Premier League outings, failed to score in the first half for nine games, and not won any of the 14 matches in which they have conceded.

Breaking down the walls of low block

Chelsea have remained in the top four despite mixed league results and are currently five points clear of Manchester United in fifth, but eight behind third-placed Manchester City.

So there is plenty of room for progress in the second half of the campaign, especially in results at Stamford Bridge, the fortress that has underpinned the Blues’ five Premier League title triumphs.

With no midweek Carabao Cup action this week and next (unlike the Manchester clubs and Leicester) training ground time will have been spent on methods to unlock visiting teams’ blanket defences.

‘People are coming here and respecting us as Chelsea because they are setting up in that way, but we are not playing like the Chelsea that can break that down,’ Frank Lampard said after Southampton returned south with all the points on Boxing Day.

The Blues are creating plenty of good scoring opportunities at home but players are not sealing the deal on them. Just 30 per cent of our league goals have been registered at the Bridge this season.

‘If you’re an offensive player, play round the corner, join, mix up your game and break defensive lines because teams aren’t stupid – you need to do more in an attacking sense,’ Lampard added. ‘Personality comes in – in lots of different ways.’

At the other end, errors are allowing visitors to extract maximum benefit from minimal opportunities. Home and away, a worrying 28 per cent of top-flight goals conceded have come in the final 10 minutes (8/29), the highest percentage of any team, and the Blues have yet to score at the Bridge after the 80th minute.

At least Sunday’s comfortable FA Cup defeat of Nottingham Forest brought goals for Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ross Barkley, neither of whom had netted since Grimsby in the Carabao Cup last September, as well as the first home clean sheet for six matches.

Premier League goals

Jamie Vardy 17Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 13Danny Ings 13Tammy Abraham 12Marcus Rashford 12Harry Kane 11Sadio Mane 11Raheem Sterling 11

Dyche’s dependables

The top-flight’s third Lancashire club have lost each of their last three in the league, and four in six on the road, including a 5-0 drubbing at Tottenham. After this weekend the Clarets’ tricky next three league opponents are Leicester, Manchester United, and Arsenal.

Burnley have used 20 players in the top flight this season. Only Wolves, with 19, have involved fewer. Twenty-three men have made an appearance for the Blues, and Tottenham top the list with 26.

For most of the season this has largely been a team that picked itself, with the same goalkeeper, back four and midfield, and Chris Wood partnering Ashley Barnes or Jay Rodriguez upfront depending on fitness. Wood and Barnes are integral to the Lancastrians’ game: according to Opta only Sheffield United have played more long balls this season.

FA Cup and Champions League catch-up

Our FA Cup round four trip to Hull has been confirmed as a 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday 25 January, live on BT Sport. The Tigers host another west London side this weekend: promotion hopefuls Fulham.

Champions League opponents Bayern Munich play a winter break friendly at lower-league Nuremberg on Saturday before the Bundesliga resumes next weekend.

Sharing the load on goals

Only two squads have spread the burden of grabbing goals more effectively than Chelsea so far this season, who are also the league’s fourth-highest scorers. It is a different story at Burnley, where only five players other than Wood, Barnes, and Rodriguez have found the net. This weekend Dyche is unsure of the availability of all three, who have accounted for 17 of the Clarets’ 23 goals between them, or 74 per cent.

Coming up

Next weekend’s hosts Newcastle travel to Molineux on Saturday. Six players have returned to training after injury, including Miguel Almiron, Andy Carroll, and Ciaran Clark.

With around half the WSL campaign remaining, unbeaten Chelsea Women are four points behind leaders Arsenal but with a game in hand. Next up for Emma Hayes’ team are Bristol City on Sunday, a 2pm kick-off at Kingsmeadow.

Andy Myers’ Chelsea under-23s, top of the Premier League 2 table having played one game fewer, entertain struggling Manchester City on Saturday at Aldershot, an 11.55am kick-off.

Hullo again

The fourth round FA Cup draw matched Chelsea with Hull for the eighth time, and second in three seasons. The Blues have never lost to the Tigers in this competition, though three of the first four ties between 1909 and 1982 were only won after a replay.

Chelsea supporters will be housed in the North Stand of the KCOM stadium. Should demand from home fans prove sufficient, the hosts will open the upper tier of the West Stand at the 25,000 capacity KCOM stadium for the first time since May 2017.

Hull’s most recent 20,000-plus attendance came in the Premier League when they were relegated three years ago. They have averaged 11,600 in the Championship this season.

Thursday was player registration cut-off day

The Clarets have a long list of possible absentees and lost Danny Drinkwater from their midfield options after the Chelsea man’s loan spell ended and he relocated to Villa. Dyche has admitted he is unlikely to add to his squad in this transfer window, however: ‘There are only so many targets that fit our model,’ he said.

The deadline for a player to be registered in time to feature in a forthcoming round of Premier League fixtures is noon the day before. As Sheffield United and West Ham are playing this evening (Friday), all clubs had until 12 noon on Thursday to ensure a new signing was eligible this weekend.

Jersey boys

The plain emerald strip with retro 1970 FA Cup badge worn for the win against Nottingham Forest by Willy Caballero was Chelsea’s sixth different goalkeeping kit this season. The others were yellow, black, orange, grey, and another emerald but with graphic print and the current badge.

Premier League fixtures

FridaySheffield United v West Ham 8pm (Sky)

SaturdayCrystal Palace v Arsenal 12.30pm (BT)Chelsea v Burnley 3pmEverton v Brighton 3pmLeicester v Southampton 3pmManchester United v Norwich 3pmWolves v Newcastle 3pmTottenham v Liverpool 5.30pm (Sky)

SundayBournemouth v Watford 2pm (Sky)Aston Villa v Manchester City 4.30pm (Sky)

Read: Chelsea vs Burnley - the stats