Blues lead chasing pack as Santos eyes Arsenal

The three points against Burnley were enough to lift Chelsea into second place in the Premier League table behind Arsenal.

Burnley's Jaidon Anthony (left) has a shot blocked by Chelsea's Andrey Santos during the Premier League match at Turf Moor. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire. 

Andrey Santos has Barcelona and Arsenal in his sights after Chelsea continued their good run with victory over Burnley.

Goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez at Turf Moor earned Enzo Maresca's side a 2-0 win to make it eight victories from their last 10 matches in all competitions.

Coupled with defeat for Manchester City, the three points were enough to lift Chelsea into second place in the Premier League table behind Arsenal.

A top-of-the-table clash against the Gunners beckons next Sunday, while on Tuesday, the Blues welcome Barcelona to Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.

Midfielder Santos said: "Of course, now we are second in the league. So, of course, we are confident, but we always want more and more.

"Because, when you talk about Chelsea, we want to win every game. It's a big week. We have Barcelona first and then Arsenal. It's a great week."

Chelsea and Barcelona both have seven points from their first four games in the Champions League so victory for either side would be a big boost to their chances of qualifying directly for the knockout stages.

Santos is looking forward to the challenge, saying: "When you talk about the Champions League, it's always amazing.

"I always dream of this big game. And now we have Barcelona, but now we have to hope that we are ready to fight against Barcelona and try to win the game."

The 21-year-old joined Chelsea in January 2023 from Vasco da Gama before being loaned back to the Brazilian side and then to Nottingham Forest and Strasbourg over the last two seasons.

This campaign he has been given a chance in Maresca's side, making six starts, including three in the Premier League.

"I think the adaptation is a little bit hard because, when you talk about the Premier League, it's the championship that's the hardest in the world," said Santos.

"But now my team-mates have helped me a lot. I'm so happy to be here in the Premier League and I think today (against Burnley) is my best performance."

Santos' display at Turf Moor in a defensive position allowed Maresca to keep star man Moises Caicedo on the bench after international duty with Ecuador.

Santos insisted he was happy to play either in that role or further forward - where he has more often been deployed - and trying to accommodate both the Brazilian and Caicedo is something of a headache for Maresca.

"He was very good," said the Chelsea boss. "Andrey's position is the position that he played today.

"With us most of the time, he's played a little bit higher but it's because in that position we have Moises and we try to find solutions for Andrey."

It was a third defeat in a row for Burnley, who slid into the bottom three, but boss Scott Parker remained confident of the Clarets' trajectory.

"At the start of this season I tried to lay out an understanding of what this season may look like," he said.

"We've played all the top six in the space of our first 11 games. Of course we came here wanting to get a result, we've not managed to do that, but we stay on track. We stay really level."

BURNLEY: Dubravka, Walker, Tuanzebe, Esteve, Hartman, Ugochukwu (Mejbri 72), Cullen, Florentino (Laurent 84), Tchaouna (Bruun Larsen 76), Flemming (Broja 72), Anthony (Foster 72). 

Subs not used: Weiss, Edwards, Ekdal, Lucas Pires. 

CHELSEA: Sanchez, James (Badiashile 46), Adarabioyo, Chalobah, Cucurella, Fernandez, Santos, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro (Guiu 76), Bynoe-Gittens, Delap (Gusto 67). 

Subs not used: Jorgensen, Hato, Caicedo, Acheampong, Estevao, Garnacho. 

Ref: Peter Bankes