Burnley v Chelsea: New signing to star in Blues win

Sean Dyche will have known that making the step up to the Premier League with his Burnley side was not going to be easy, but he might still have cursed the balls that tumbled out to send Chelsea to Turf Moor in their first fixture.

The Blues are heavy 2/5 favourites to beat the Clarets, who are a huge 8/1 even on home soil, with the draw priced at 19/5.

With such short odds on a Chelsea win, we’ve looked elsewhere to provide some value for punters chasing a juicy payout from the first Monday night action of the season.

Chelsea to win to nil @ 11/10

It took until around halfway through the season for Jose Mourinho to get his defence sorted out at Stamford Bridge, and after that the Blues became nigh on impenetrable.

They kept a league-high 18 clean sheets in total, with 13 of those coming after Christmas, and Mourinho’s side are likely to be just as miserly from the off this term.

The Portuguese manager has not lost the first fixture of a campaign at any club in his career, and Chelsea have not conceded a goal on opening day in four seasons, winning three of those games.

Under 2.5 goals @ 1/1

Burnley will do everything they can to keep this match tight and up against a Chelsea side steered by a manager who rarely turns in huge score-lines away from home, under 2.5 goals looks a safe bet.

There were less than three goals in 12 of the Blues’ 19 away games last season and they started especially sluggishly, scoring just once in their first three matches on the road.

Four of Chelsea’s final five away games also saw under three goals, with only a last-day 2-1 win over relegated Cardiff bucking the trend.

For their part, Burnley had the best home defensive record in the Championship last term, conceding just 14 times in 23 games.

Diego Costa to score the first goal @ 7/2

Chelsea needed to sign a top-class striker this summer, and they did exactly that in the shape of Costa, who bagged 36 goals in 52 games for Atletico Madrid last season.

The Spaniard netted four times in pre-season and could start the campaign in similarly prolific style to last year, when he scored 23 goals in Atletico’s first 20 games in all competitions.

That run began with two strikes on opening day, including the first goal in Los Colchonero’s 3-1 win at Sevilla.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £100 in free bets.