Chelsea v Burnley: Premier League – live!

45+2 min: A slow end to a pulsating half. Re Hudson-Odoi, we’ve had a speculative email from Rob Coughlin: “I’m no doctor but I’ve done my Achilles and that’s what it looks like.”

45 min: Three minutes added on here for added time, presumably for Hudson Odoi injury and all the goal celebrations we’ve had.

43 min: Higuain really is playing very well. Holding it up well against two strong centre-backs in Mee and Tarkowski and dropping deep to break the lines. He even threads a pass through the eye of a needle to find Pedro through on goal, but the Spaniard is unable to control it!

41 min: Hudson-Odoi has had to go off, so Pedro comes on his place. A nice replacement to have up your sleeve. Nobody seems to know what Hudson-Odoi has done, but he’s limping down the tunnel.

39 min: Of all the players in the Premier League, who would you least like to go shoulder-to-shoulder with? I’ll go for Loftus-Cheek. He shrugged off Barnes earlier like he was putting on a rucksack, and then sent Westwood flying with a perfectly legal barge in the build up to Kante’s goal. Has played very well today, thus far.

37 min: Hudson-Odoi has had a mixed first half, clumsy touches, loose passes but lots of dynamism on the right wing. He seems to have picked up a knock, and has gone down to receive some treatment.

35 min: Tarkowski cleans out Kante in midfield as Chelsea counter, but Kevin Friend does well to wave on advantage. The ball is played out to Hudson-Odoi on the right as Chelsea players flood into the box, but the young winger’s cross is poor and Heaton claims it cleanly.

34 min: Wonder what Nick Pope is up to on this fine Monday evening?

32 min: Tom Heaton has been booked for time-wasting, after continually dawdling over his goal kicks. Just the 68 minutes to go, Tom!

31 min: “Some of your readers might be interested to know that Ashley Barnes isn’t the only player in this match with an Austria connection,” emails Peter Oh. “Chelsea substitute Mateo Kovacic, though a Croatian international, was born in Austria and played youth football for Linz-based side LASK.”

29 min: Chelsea twice try their luck from range. Hazard cuts in on his right foot and curls one over, and then Higuain goes a little closer, smashing one just past Heaton’s right-hand post. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do, Higuain’s shooting technique – even with his weaker left foot – is quite something.

Burnley have had two shots, two goals. Sarri will be absolutely furious! From a free-kick just inside Chelsea’s half, a ball is floated to the back post. Two headers then go uncontested, the first from Mee to nod it back across goal, the second from Wood to flick it on, before Barnes (again unmarked) steers it into the roof of the net with a volley from six yards out. Bonkers defending. What a game we have here!

20 min: Loftus-Cheek goes close! Chelsea are playing some intricate stuff around the box, culminating in the England international trying his luck from 25 yards out, curling a shot towards the top corner, maybe a yard over the bar. Not too dissimilar to the goal he scored against Brighton a few weeks ago.

19 min: I don’t think Burnley have touched the ball once in the last two minutes. Feeling like this game could run away from them very quickly.

16 min: Higuain is feeling it tonight, man has got his mojo back. Playing with a smile.

I’m not Higuain’s biggest fan, but this is an absolutely stonking goal! With his back to goal, he leaves Mee for dead with a cute turn, plays a one-two with Azpilicueta, and then rockets a bullet shot off the underside of the bar from an relatively acute angle. I would love to know the MPH on that shot. Wow!

Well that didn’t last long. Kante’s goal – a first-time finish into the roof of Heaton’s net – comes after some mesmerising wingplay from Hazard. The Belgian left Lowton on his arse on the byline before cutting the ball back to Kante on the penalty spot.

It wasn’t as good as this, but it wasn’t far off. A hint of shin in the volley as well which, as Rooney and Van Persie can attest, is not always a bad thing.

Burnley win a cheap corner off David Luiz, from which Azpilicueta heads out at the back post and Hendrick comes forward to meet the clearance on the volley, crashing his shot past Kepa from the edge of the box. A brilliant volley, and Chelsea are stunned!

6 min: Mee clears off the line! Burnley are defending deep but Hazard dinks a delicate ball over the back four, Higuain peels off nicely and lobs the outrushing Heaton from an acute angle, but Mee gets back to clear, toeing it clear!

4 min: Is Hazard limping? He was passed fit for tonight after an ankle knock. Seems to be moving a bit gingerly.

2 min: Chelsea have started very well, with Jorginho at the heart of things. Some lovely one-touch stuff up the right-hand side and Hudson-Odoi wins a corner. Hazard’s initial delivery is poor, but the ball rebounds back out to him and the Belgian takes a touch inside Taylor and unleashes a fierce strike straight at Heaton, who is lucky that Loftus-Cheeks skews the loose ball.

The players are out of the tunnel at Stamford Bridge. We’re a couple of minutes away from kick-off here.

“Re Emerson,” writes Neal Butler, “as a Chelsea fan, I don’t think he’s great, but the team works better with him at left-back than with Alonso. Emerson’s a bit more disciplined and faster than Alonso, so him playing means the left-sided midfielder doesn’t have to track back all the time. I, and I guess most Chelsea fans who aren’t blinkered by Alonso’s attacking prowess at wing-back, would snap your hand off for a left-back half as good as Ashley Cole.”

Gus Poyet is the guest in the Sky studio tonight, which is all the reason I need to re-post this.

Drew Chappell has emailed in, as have a few others with the same sentiment.

“My thoughts on Emerson: He’s not Alonso, so there’s that.”

Burnley are unsurprisingly unchanged from the side that beat Cardiff – with eight Englishman in their starting XI (plus Ashley Barnes, who was born in Bath appeared for Austria at youth level). They line up in a uncompromising 4-4-2.

I suspect that unless Higuain scores tonight/plays a blinder, this will be his final start for Chelsea. Can’t see how Sarri can continue to justify playing him ahead of Giroud, with such difficult fixtures to come after tonight.

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson Palmieri, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard.
Subs: Barkley, Pedro, Caballero, Kovacic, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill.

Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Barnes, Wood.
Subs: Gudmundsson, Brady, Gibson, Hart, Ward, Vydra, Long.

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

The weekend couldn’t have gone much better for Chelsea. Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United all lost, and with a win tonight, Maurizio Sarri and co will go third. Yes, they will have played one more game than their top-four rivals. Admittedly, they could still be caught be any of them, particularly because Chelsea have a tough run-in (Manchester United away, Watford and Leicester away) and a Europa League campaign to contend.

There are lots of things to worry about in the future (the departure of Eden Hazard, the transfer embargo, global warming) but tonight – skipping towards Stamford Bridge in some sort of delirious Bank Holiday weekend haze – Chelsea fans should be able to enjoy themselves.

Should. Chelsea are comfortable favourites tonight but Burnley arrive having won three on the bounce, results which have all but secured their Premier League survival for another season. You might also remember that in this fixture last season, on the opening day, they beat the newly-crowned champions (all nine men of them) 3-2 at the Bridge.

Let’s see how we go. Could be another five-goal thriller, could be 90 mins of Jorginho and David Luiz playing keep ball.

Kick-off: 8pm BST.