Burnley’s Mee excited about facing up against Chelsea’s £70m man

Burnley face a baptism of fire when the Premier League returns this weekend as Sean Dyche’s side travel to Stamford Bridge to tackle defending champions Chelsea.

There’s plenty of talk surrounding the Blues this season and their summer signings, or rather the lack of additions in some areas, but a club-record deal for Alvaro Morata has set the precedent ahead of the new season as Chelsea look to replace Diego Costa.

Costa’s physical presence is certainly difficult to play against and the imminent exit of the Spaniard will probably lead to a more comfortable night’s sleep for Premier League defenders, although Morata will provide a fresh challenge.

Long-serving Burnley defender Ben Mee spoke ahead of the Premier League’s return this weekend and stated he’s looking forward to going toe-to-toe with the biggest players in the league once again – and he’s keen to see how Morata performs.

“It’s the usual suspects really, players like Hazard, and I’m keen to see what this new lad for Chelsea’s like, Morata. It will be interesting to play against the big boys again and to be playing in these top stadiums.”

With Mee playing against Morata for the first-time, and the Spaniard looking set to make his Premier League debut, it will be a challenge for both players to perform but Mee has discussed how watching videos may help.

“If I want to they’ll have a few clips on him and they’ll feedback to us lads. For a defender it’s worthy watching bits on striker’s movements to get a little bit of an idea as to what sort of player they’re like.”

There has been some suggestions that Morata may not start and begin the match on the bench, just as he did in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, but Mee says his preparation for the match will be the same no matter who his potential opponent is.

“It’s the same no matter who it is I guess. Some players have different styles but it won’t affect our game-plan.”