CAPTAIN Ben Mee is preparing to face the Premier League’s joint top scorer when the Clarets take on Chelsea tonight.

Eight-goal Tammy Abraham has risen through the ranks at Stamford Bridge but has played more games for Bristol City and Swansea than he has for the Blues.

Loan spells have been key to the 22-year-old’s development so far, but Chelsea’s two-window transfer ban means that he and others, including Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, are now getting their opportunity, and are grasping it under Frank Lampard.

“They have all got fantastic academies (in the Premier League) and when you see the young lads coming through it definitely brings an excitement to watching the games when you see the young lads doing well,” said Mee.

“There are a few at Chelsea doing really well and lads at (Manchester) United – good players are really getting a chance from these good academies.

“You definitely want to see more of that. They have to be good enough to be given that chance and there’s a lot of pressure on managers to get success.

“Tammy Abraham is flying at the minute, he’s playing well and scoring goals. He’s a good talent.”

Mee had first-hand experience of that battle to break through from youth team to first team when he was a youngster at Manchester City, where he felt he was a victim of circumstance.

“The time I was there personally the club was just changing. They were at the transition stage of bringing players in.

“Maybe a couple of years earlier it might have been a bit different, but they were bringing a lot of players in and money was coming in,” he explained.

Mee first joined Burnley on a season-long loan in the summer of 2011, when Eddie Howe was manager, before the move was made permanent 12 months

later.

“For me it was about getting out on loan and getting that experience to go and play in a league,” said the 30-year-old.

“I wanted to play football for a first team and be a main focus of a club and it was my aim to do that, and I love my journey that I’ve been on.”

Mee has been a mainstay in the Burnley side over the last eight years, initially at left-back before moving to centre-half under Sean Dyche.

And he feels the pressure being applied by Ben Gibson and Kevin Long is helping to keep both him and centre-half partner James Tarkowski on top of their game.

“They are brilliant. They are good lads and they’re working really hard,” he said.

“The competition is really healthy in the group at the moment.

“Not everyone can play I guess but they’re being a positive influence around the training ground, which everyone is to be fair, no one’s really

moaning.

“Everyone’s working really hard and being there for each other and supporting each other.

“Obviously we know that if we’re not performing or playing well there’s someone else to step in and take your place.”

Former Middlesbrough defender Gibson has been linked with a January move to Newcastle, and while Mee would not be drawn on transfer speculation, he said: “He’s a good player, he’s an honest player. He’s getting his head down and working hard.”