The Blues maintained their nine-point advantage at the summit of the standings with a comfortable 3-1 victory over title rivals Arsenal last time out, as goals from Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas made the difference at Stamford Bridge. It is difficult to envisage a situation in which Antonio Conte's charges slip up and throw away their sizeable lead, not least because they have been so consistent against the sides outside the division's top six - the only time the table-toppers have dropped points against a bottom-14 team was in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City in September.
Burnley's miserable run away from home continued with a 2-1 defeat by Watford at Vicarage Road last weekend. The promoted outfit are an entirely different proposition in front of their own supporters, however: despite collecting just a single point on their travels, Burnley have emerged victorious from nine of their previous 13 Premier League encounters at home this season. The Clarets have had a superb campaign up to now, with any fears of an immediate relegation back to the Championship having long since vanished; Sean Dyche deserves immense credit for the job he has done at Turf Moor, particularly given the struggles they endured during their last stint in the top tier.
Hazard has been nursing a slight calf problem in the last few days but is expected to start on Sunday, with Chelsea having no other injury worries. Conte will stick with the 3-4-3 setup that has served his team so well this term, but the former Juventus and Italy head coach may prefer Cesc Fabregas - whose guile, craft and range of passing could be essential against opponents like Burnley - to Nemanja Matic alongside N'Golo Kante in the engine room.
Burnley, meanwhile, will have to make do without Jeff Hendrick, Dean Marney and Kevin Long, while Steven Defour is a major doubt. Dyche tends to favour a 4-4-2 formation but could opt to field an extra midfielder in the centre of the park in place of frontman Ashley Barnes, with the focus likely to be on sitting deep, taking up a compact and well-organised defensive shape and denying their illustrious opponents space to operate in the final third.
Although Chelsea are in excellent form at present, it could be worth backing the Clarets to pick up a point when they do battle with the league leaders on Sunday afternoon. Burnley's home record is phenomenal and they will look to make life extremely difficult for Conte's visitors, who would probably settle for a draw given the size of their lead at the top. A low-scoring stalemate could be the way to go here, then - as well as a draw in a match featuring fewer than 2.5 goals, it is also worth considering a flutter on 1-1 in the correct scoreline market.
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