Chelsea v Burnley team news: Lukaku benched and James returns as Saul earns first league start since December

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Thomas Tuchel has thrown up a surprise with his squad to face Burnley today, but it still pales in comparison to the other major Chelsea surprise this week.

After the news Roman Abramovich would be putting Chelsea up for sale, the future of the club has been hotly questioned, with new prospective owners seemingly around the corner on one day and then a while off the next.

Nevertheless, Tuchel and his squad will have to deal with the stigma surrounding it, with itself stemmed from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Following The Blues midweek victory over Luton Town, Tuchel has opted to reward on-loan star Saul Niguez with just his second Premier League start of the season and his first since December 1st.

Saul was a star performer against the Championship side in midweek and is likely hoping he can translate this into the Premier League, where he has utterly failed to showcase his quality thus far.

Elsewhere, Reece James makes his long awaited return to the Chelsea starting xi after returning from a hamstring injury he suffered in late December.

Otherwise, except for Jorginho coming in for Mateo Kovavic, the team remains unchanged from the side which started against Liverpool in last Sundays Carabao Cup final.

Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner are both on the bench despite their midweek heroics.

More Stories Reece James Roman Abramovich Romelu Lukaku Saul Niguez Thomas Tuchel