Chelsea made it a 100 per cent January when John Terry headed home a winner nine minutes from time.
It was a typically strong-minded contribution from the captain on a weekend when his private life is featured heavily in the press and was the result of a Chelsea performance that improved once Burnley had been allowed to equalise, Joe Cole having a 'goal' ruled out for a debatable offside before Terry's winner.
The home side's goal to make it 1-1 had come shortly after the restart, Nicolas Anelka having put the visitors ahead midway through the first half with his sixth goal in six games.
The win on a ground where Manchester United and` Arsenal both failed to take three points puts Chelsea four points clear ahead of the clash between our closest rivals.
There were just two changes to the team that had been so impressive midweek against Birmingham. As he indicated he would on Friday, Carlo Ancelotti rested Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, putting them both on the bench. He brought Alex and Yury Zhirkov in; Michael Ballack moving back into the anchor role.
It took until eight minutes into the game at a chilly and not overly hostile Turf Moor for Chelsea to muster a shot, Lampard scooping well over after Anelka had returned his pass. A poor Burnley defensive header had put the Blues on the front foot. Anelka then air-kicked when well-placed to shoot.
Burnley were troubling Chelsea little in what was a messy opening 15 minutes, the offside flag and the referee's whistle frequently thwarting the visiting attack.
On 23 minutes, Burnley, who had been hitting several high balls, played a neat short-passing move into the Chelsea area but Fletcher slipped at the vital moment and Alex cleared the danger.
That had been the one true moment of quality in the game until Anelka struck three minutes later.
This time it was long-range first-time passing that cut through as Chelsea executed a classic counter-attack. Joe Cole, running over halfway on the right, took Cech's throw and hit a diagonal pass over the top of the Burnley central defence that Malouda made great strides to meet. The cross came in low and Anelka ran perfectly to meet it inside the six-yard box to fire home. It was the French marksman's 12th of the season.
Bikey, drafted into midfield for this game following the Africa Cup of Nations, had a chance to fire Burnley straight back level after Ashley Cole had cleared weakly but charged by John Terry, the Cameroonian's shot was high.
The Chelsea captain was booked for another type of charge soon after, checking Blake's strong run. There was a predictably loud chorus of boos from the home support. Bikey levelled up the yellow card count by tripping Anelka who was hurdling his floored assailant.
Burnley keeper Jensen narrowly won a race to head clear outside his area when Anelka beat the offside trap as Ballack launched one high. A moment of Anelka quality brought an end to the first-half. Dropping deep, he threaded a pass through that was an inch from being collected by Zhirkov in front of the target.
Malouda was shooting for goal within seconds of the restart as Chelsea set off to kill the game as soon as possible but just four minutes in came the equaliser. It originated from a high ball into the box, Fletcher taking a good touch inside of Alex but when the Brazilian had the chance to clear, he hit the ball against the Burnley striker who took his opportunity to fire low past Cech.
Chelsea took the knock in our stride and pressed hard again. Joe Cole had the ball in the net, heading in among panicked Clarets' defending. The offside call that disallowed the goal was marginal to say the least. Cole had another chance seconds later but the shot was soft and wide.
Anelka, involved in a lot Chelsea's best play, won a free-kick just past the hour that Lampard fired near-post. Jensen was a touch slow to react and could only push out into the danger zone but Ballack sliced his follow-up shot across the box.
Alex headed into the keeper's arms and Lampard was over-ambitious with a shot from a tight angle as the game entered its final quarter.
Sturridge for Joe Cole was Ancelotti's first substitution, his second was Deco for the other Cole after Ashley had taken a kick while going for goal, limping on for a few minutes more before coming off. Zhirkov went to left-back.
Malouda, along with Anelka and Ivanovic the most effective players on the day, dribbled impressively into the area but then sliced his shot horribly. Chelsea were the only side looking like scoring a second.
Sturridge did very well to turn sharply onto a very good Lampard pass and shoot, winning a corner. It was a Lampard outswinger that Terry met with a thump of the forehead, Jensen able to get fingers to it but unable to do anything to keep it out. There were 81 minutes gone.
The final minutes were all about making sure which was done comfortably. Lampard could have added a stoppage time third with the Chelsea fans singing a full-throated 'One Man Went to Mow' but fired over from Anelka's pass.
Chelsea have still yet to win a league game by more that one goal at Burnley and the display wasn't great, certainly compared with the last two home games, but it was good enough.
Chelsea(4-3-2-1):Cech; Ivanovic, Alex, Terry (c), A Cole (Deco 76); Lampard, Ballack, Zhirkov; J Cole (Sturridge 70), Malouda; Anelka.
Scorers Anelka 26, Terry 81.
Booked Terry 33
Burnley (4-4-1-1): Jensen; Mears, Cort, Carlisle (c), Kalvenes (Duff 34); Elliott, Bikey, McDonald (Paterson 59), Eagles; Blake (Thompson 70); Fletcher.
Scorer Fletcher 49.
Booked Bikey 37.
See the full 90 minutes from 6pm Sunday on Chelsea TV.
