Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has discussed their Premier League fixture against Burnley at the Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The Blues sit eleventh in the Premier League table heading into the fixture and importantly, they 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.

“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.”

He added: “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.”

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