Mark Lawrenson casts Burnley scoreline prediction ahead of Chelsea clash

Chelsea's German midfielder Kai Havertz (CR) battles with Burnley's English defender James Tarkowski (CL) during the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Chelsea at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on October 31, 2020. (Photo by ALEX LIVESEY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A buoyant Burnley will head to Stamford Bridge full of confidence this weekend, as they gear up to take on Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea following three wins on the trot.

In his weekly list of scoreline predictions for BBC Sport, pundit Mark Lawrenson backed the hosts to edge the game 2-1.

Elaborating on his pick, Lawro questioned: "I wonder if new Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has come up against a team who play quite like Burnley before? I doubt it.

"The Clarets are doing well and will be full of confidence after beating Liverpool and Aston Villa in their past two league games, to give themselves a bit of breathing space above the bottom three.

"By the way things looked during Wednesday's draw with Wolves, Tuchel has made improving the Blues' defence his priority. If they can get that right again here, I think he can get his first win under his belt."

Meanwhile, Lawro’s sparring partner for the week, Black Country saxophonist and Swansea City fan Lewis Evans, picked a 1-1 draw, and appeared to be far from excited about the game, claiming: "This will be an absolute snooze-fest. This is destined to be the most boring game of the season so far."

The last time the two sides met, back in October, a Chelsea stormed to a 3-0 win at Turf Moor, with summer signings Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner both finding themselves on the scoresheet.

Over the course of their last ten meetings, in a record stretching back to 2015, the Clarets have won just once - a 3-2 thriller in 2017, in which Burnley were 3-0 up at half-time.