Burnley 1-3 Chelsea: Blues sweep aside promoted Clarets
- adamhigginsuk
- Aug 18, 2014
- 9 min read
Pointing in the right direction: Andre Schurrle celebrates his goal which helped Chelsea towards a comeback victory over the Clarets (Picture by FTBPro.com)
CHELSEA impressively came from behind to open their Premier League campaign with a comfortable victory over newcomers Burnley.
Scott Arfield gave last season's Championship runners-up a dream start by crashing home a superb volley early on.
But Blues debutant Diego Costa rifled home an instant leveller before being denied a penalty when brought down by Burnley keeper Tom Heaton.
Andre Schurrle capped off a magnificent passing move with a close-range finish and Branislav Ivanovic struck from a Cesc Fabregas corner to put Chelsea firmly in command.
Having coasted through the second half, the Blues delivered a powerful display which exemplified Jose Mourinho’s belief that his side are serious title contenders this season.
Mourinho bolstered the squad with an £85 million outlay to address the shortcomings of last season, in which they finished third and failed to win a trophy, and new signings Costa and Fabregas appear to have added an extra dimension after catching the eye at Turf Moor.
With rivals Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City all winning their first fixtures, the determined Blues followed suit by extending their unbeaten opening day record to 17 games to end the weekend where they hope to finish in May - on top of the table.
In contrast, it was a harsh lesson for their newly-promoted opponents, who were outclassed on their Premier League return after a four-year exile having defied the odds to clinch automatic promotion under Sean Dyche.
Relegation favourites Burnley beat Manchester United in their first home game in 2009-10 but were instead given an early reminder of the unforgiving nature of the top-flight although, coming up against the strength of the pre-season title favourites, they cannot be too disheartened.
? DID YOU KNOW ?
Chelsea have won 12 of their last 13 opening day fixtures and all six under Jose Mourinho.
Their last defeat came in 1998 in a 2-1 reverse against Coventry City.
It was the first time the Blues had conceded in their opening match of the season in five years (since a 2-1 win over Hull in August 2009).
Mourinho handed Thibault Courtois a long-awaited first competitive appearance with the Belgian stopper preferred to Petr Cech, the club's first-choice goalkeeper for the past decade.
£30 million Fabregas and £32 million Costa, La Liga’s top scorer with 27 goals for champions Atletico Madrid last season, also made their debuts with fellow arrivals Filipe Luis and Didier Drogba on the bench while Ramires served a one-match suspension.
Only two of Burnley’s seven summer acquisitions started in former West Ham midfielder Matt Taylor and Lukas Jutkiewicz with the latter, a £1.5 million buy from Middlesbrough, partnering last season’s 21-goal top scorer Danny Ings in attack in the continued absence of Welshman Sam Vokes.
In defence, 36-year-old Michael Duff, who has played in all six top tiers of English football and is the club’s only survivor from their last top-flight campaign, started alongside skipper Jason Shackell.
The carnival atmosphere inside the east Lancashire ground generated plenty of excitement and the vocals of the raucous home crowd inspired Burnley to make an encouraging start.
The Clarets were fortunate when German World Cup winner Andre Schurrle saw an effort deflected inches wide by the boot of left-back Ben Mee.
At the other end, former Everton striker Jutkiewicz latched onto Dean Marney's threaded pass and wriggled inside of Blues skipper John Terry to strike tamely into the side netting.
The hard-working hosts competed well in the early exchanges, exuding confidence in possession and showed no signs of fear on the big stage.
And, amid heavy rain and blustery conditions, the stadium erupted when the Clarets stormed in front on the quarter hour mark.
The Blues defence failed to deal with a recycled corner as David Jones found space in the left channel of the area to float a cross which was brought under control by Arfield.
The Scot, who joined from Huddersfield last summer, then kept his composure to rifle an unstoppable half-volley into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.
But the lead lasted barely two minutes as Chelsea's most expensive summer recruit opened his Premier League account.
A low cross from Ivanovic was touched onto his own post by Duff and rebounded invitingly into the path of Costa, who slammed home from eight yards.
BURNLEY V CHELSEA: FACTS & STATS
All of Burnley's matchday squad of 18 players were born in Britain.
The Clarets have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 28 Premier League games.
Chelsea gained 17 points from losing positions last term (the joint best top-flight record along with Tottenham).
The Blues were the only Premier League team to score more than twice on the opening weekend.
Cesc Fabregas, who has now assisted four goals in his last three PL games, touched the ball more times (104) than any other player at Turf Moor.
Each of the last four Premier League title winners have started their season on a Monday night while the Blues are now unbeaten in their last 11 games played on that day of the week.
The Blues have kept just two clean sheets in their last eight Premier League away games.
The Blues seized the initiative and, having responded immediately to the setback, did not take long to turn the deficit into an advantage.
Burnley boasted the Championship's meanest defence last term with just 37 goals conceded but had no answer to a breathtaking passage of play consisting of 29 passes, which culminated in a mazy run from Eden Hazard.
The marauding Ivanovic then picked out Fabregas on the edge of the box and a sublime through-ball from the ex-Arsenal midfielder was slid home from close range by Schurrle, who had escaped unnoticed at the back post.
With slick build-up play and a frightening change of pace, the visitors dominated territorially to put Burnley on the back foot.
On the half hour mark, Costa felt he should have been awarded a penalty when pouncing on a woeful Mee backpass to round Heaton before hitting the deck.
But referee Michael Oliver, who had an unimpeded view albeit 20 yards behind the play, booked the stunned Spaniard for diving despite replays suggesting contact had been made by the sprawling keeper.
The controversy, however, was quickly dispelled when an unchallenged Ivanovic drove a volley into the net from Fabregas’s corner to give the Blues a firm two-goal cushion.
There was little in the way of emotion conveyed by Mourinho as his side struck three times in 17 first-half minutes to swing the pendulum in their favour and completely puncture Burnley’s bright opening.
England Under-21 international Ings diverted Taylor's left-wing cross inches beyond the post as the hosts showed signs of danger when venturing into the final third.
But, as the noise levels became increasingly subdued, their forays were merely sporadic even when Chelsea eased off before the break.
The Clarets made a positive start to the second period as Ings powered forward to fire wide of the post before Courtois extended his frame superbly to tip over a fine curling effort by Arfield.
Schurrle then dipped a free-kick over the crossbar from 22 yards for the Blues, who re-asserted their superiority with a sustained spell of possession to slow the intensity down.
Burnley re-established the high tempo which gave the home fans renewed belief as Dyche introduced Ashley Barnes and Michael Kightly for Jutkiewicz and Taylor with 20 minutes remaining to add fresh enthusiasm.
But the resilient hosts failed to ruffle a Chelsea defence that conceded the fewest top-flight goals and kept the most clean sheets last term.
? DID YOU KNOW ?
Burnley lost just one of their opening nine home games in their last Premier League campaign in 2009-10, in which they lost both games against Chelsea (3-0 away and 2-1 at home).
It was the first time Burnley have suffered a defeat on the opening day of the season since they were last in the top-flight (a 2-0 loss at Stoke).
The Clarets have not beaten Chelsea in a top-flight game since August 1973 (a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor).
Cruising towards the finishing line despite dropping several gears, the Blues gave Brazilian forward Willian a run-out in place of the eye-catching Schurrle before the arrival of prodigal son Drogba received a standing ovation from the away support as Hazard was withdrawn.
The 36-year-old, who rejoined on a one-year deal after two seasons at Galatasaray, almost marked his return in the grand manner when he nonchalantly dragged a Courtois down-field punt out of the air before flashing a right-foot volley wide from 18 yards.
Despite the game being over as a contest, the Clarets continued to express admirable strength in adversity and did not drop their heads.
But the three points had long belonged to a Chelsea side, who issued an ominous warning to their fellow title rivals that they mean business in their quest to lift the trophy for the first time in five seasons.
Meanwhile, Dyche, who described Burnley as the biggest underdogs in Premier League history, will hope his side can adapt quickly if they are to prove doubters wrong by avoiding relegation with the visit of Manchester United to come in a fortnight after Saturday’s trip to Swansea.
Monday 18th August 2014
Barclays Premier League
Turf Moor (Burnley, East Lancashire)
Burnley 1-3 Chelsea KO 8pm Live on Sky Sports 1/HD1 (HT 1-3)
Arfield 14 Costa 17 Schurrle 21
Ivanovic 34
Burnley (4-4-2): 1 Heaton - 7/10, 2 Trippier - 7/10, 4 Duff - 6/10, 5 Shackell (C) - 6.5/10, 6 Mee - 7/10, 37 Arfield - 7.5/10, 14 Jones - 7/10, 8 Marney - 7.5/10, 15 Taylor - 6.5/10 (Kightly 70 - 3.5/10), 10 Ings - 7/10 (Sordell 82 - 2/10), 19 Jutkiewicz - 7/10 (Barnes 70 - 3/10).
Subs not used: 22 Gilks (GK), 28 Long, 38 Dummigan, 7 Wallace.
Booked: Sordell (87)
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): 13 Courtois - 8.5/10, 2 Ivanovic - 8.5/10, 26 Terry (C) - 8/10, 24 Cahill - 8/10, 28 Azpilicueta - 7.5/10, 21 Matic - 8.5/10, 4 Fabregas - 9.5/10, 8 Oscar - 7.5/10 (Mikel 82 - 2.5/10), 10 Hazard - 8/10 (Drogba 84 - 2.5/10), 14 Schurrle - 8.5/10 (Willian 78 - 3/10), 19 Diego Costa - 9/10.
Subs not used: 1 Cech (GK), 3 Filipe Luis, 5 Zouma, 9 Torres.
Booked: Diego Costa (30)
My Man of the Match: Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) - 9.5/10
My Poorest Performer of the Match: Michael Duff (Burnley) - 6/10
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) - 8/10 Assistant referees: Stuart Burt and Darren Cann
Fourth Official: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Attendance: 20,699
MANAGER & PLAYER REACTION:
Burnley FC manager Sean Dyche
"The players will learn from the game about the enormity, the occasion of Premier League games. The players will learn from a match against a team like Chelsea. We are all learning from that, the group will learn from that. We have to keep going, and we did in the second half. We continued to press and tried to break them down. That's against a team who are at the top end of the business. We have to be realistic, not defeatist. Our journey is slightly different from Chelsea's. It's not about trying to get that game out the way. We enjoyed it, but we don't enjoy losing. It's the reality of the market that we are going into, and Chelsea are at the top of that. They have power, quality, pace and can hurt you in many ways. That's what you get for £300m or whatever. We kept trying to play and will try to keep the inner quality, and inner belief."
Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho
"When you come to a place like here and you are a goal down against a difficult team and in a difficult place then players can get down heartened and lose faith. Burnley are a direct and physical side but overall we had good control and we showed moments of class. At half-time I told the players 4-1 kills the game but 3-2 makes it dangerous. I agree completely with Cesc as man of the match. He controlled the tempo of the game and was responsible for the best phase of our play. Diego was very important as he made our first goal and that was very important. We should have had a penalty and it wasn't unlucky it was unfair, it wasn't simulation but a clear penalty. The kid wasn't happy and I hope he doesn't get any more unfair decisions. No, Thibaut Courtois isn't my first choice for the rest of the season. He was my first choice today. The rest of the season? Who knows?"
Chelsea captain John Terry
"Jose [Mourinho] has made some very big signings this summer like Costa who was different class tonight the way he held the ball up, we're hoping to win the league this season. It will be very tough but it was important that we got three points."
Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas
"You always want to do well and I love playing football, we have a very talented young team and so far so good. Everyone has treated me very well and I'm enjoying it here. Everyone has made it so easy for me, the staff, the players. It was something I would never have expected, football has brought me here and I will give my best to make it work for me and Chelsea."
Last updated: 18 August 2014 23:07pm
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