The Blues sit eleventh in the Premier League table heading into tomorrow's fixture at Stamford Bridge. Importantly, however, Mauricio Pochettino's side have at least one game in hand on the teams above them and are in striking distance of the European places.

In contrast, Burnley are in the midst of a relegation battle. The Clarets are 19th in the table, five points from safety, and have claimed victory on the road just twice this season.

Yet, as Pochettino has highlighted, every Premier League side possesses quality and players who can be match-winners. It's why the Chelsea head coach does not expect an easy afternoon at the Bridge.

‘They are a team that plays with freedom, they run a lot, and are a very physical team with good, young players,' the Argentine explained ahead of a rare Saturday 3pm kick-off for the Blues.

'It’s always going to be tough. For us, we need to be in a different place [in the Premier League] and we need to win and perform well. In the Premier League, you’re never going to find an easy game – and Burnley are a good team, an exciting team to watch. It’s going to be difficult.’

Chelsea have a final training session at Cobham today (Friday) before Pochettino and his staff settle upon a starting XI for Burnley's visit.

That task has been made harder due to the fitness of several players needing to be assessed ahead of the game.

Ben Chilwell, for instance, returned from international duty with England suffering from a dead leg while Enzo Fernandez only returned from his exploits with Argentina yesterday afternoon.

A positive was Cole Palmer's involvement in first-team training yesterday. The 21-year-old, who scored his first Chelsea goal in the reverse fixture against Burnley at Turf Moor, had sustained a minor knock while away with England.

The visit of Burnley this weekend is followed by the visit of Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening. We then travel to Bramall Lane to take on bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United.

A run of victories would move Chelsea swiftly up the table and increase our chances of finishing in a European place. But Pochettino, at this stage of the campaign, is not focused on anything beyond Burnley.

'We cannot plan too much about the end of the season,' he said. 'We need to plan to win the next game, that is always the most important, and then we focus on the next one.

'The most important thing is to try to find the right balance, that is what we are fighting with due to the circumstances. We have to be right with our decisions whenever we decide the starting XI and the game plan for every single match.'