Burnley hold Chelsea to a 2-2 draw and hurt them in the top 4 race
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Stamford Bridge witnessed one of the best first halves of this season with four goals being scored within the first 24 minutes. Chelsea missed the opportunity to move to third spot after Arsenal and Tottenham had lost their respective fixtures in the game-week. Chelsea failed to capitalize on the failures of their rivals by only drawing with Burnley 2-2- in the English capital.
Chelsea started brilliantly and won a couple of corners. Hazard was seeing too much of the ball and the dangerous Belgian played a dink to Gonazalo Higuain who then cheekily flicked it over goal keeper Heaton. Ben Mee’s acrobatic clearance from the goal line kept the score at 0-0.
Against the run of play, Burnley scored the first goal of the match from a corner. Azpilicueta’s clearance came to Hendrick who volleyed the ball into the bottom right corner. Chelsea responded immediately. Ruben Loftus-cheek recovered the ball from Burnley and then released Hazard. The Belgian used his quick feet to twist and turn leaving Lowton on the floor in the left side of the box before picking Kante in the middle. The French midfielder equalised for Chelsea with a powerful shot leaving Heaton with no chance.
Chelsea got the lead two minutes later when Azpilicueta’s backheel released Higuain. The Argentine scored a pure striker’s goal from a tight angle by smashing the ball that went in off the crossbar. Chelsea were totally in control and had the chance to go ahead in the 20th minute. Ruben Loftus-cheek tried to score from a curled shot from the edge of the box that flew just over the crossbar.
Burnley scored yet again against the run of play in the 24th minute. The move started from a set-piece again with Hendrick’s free-kick getting headed across by Mee to Wood who then nodded it into Barnes’ path. The Burnley striker made no mistake by scoring from close range. The scores were level at 2-2.
Chelsea kept dominating the action but were sloppy in defending set-pieces and the birthday boy David Luiz was not having a good game. Burnley started time-wasting so early and their keeper Heaton got booked in the 32nd minute for slowing down the game. Callum Hudson-Oldai started to limp after landing awkwardly from a jump. The youngster was replaced by Pedro. The first half ended with both teams having a chance to nick the game in the second half.
Chelsea started the second half without Kante who apparently had sustained a rib-injury. Kovacic came on in his place. Most of Chelsea’s efforts were blocked by Burnley and Chelsea were far from scoring even though they had most of the ball. Chelsea came close to scoring only in the 67th minute when Pedro’s cross was left by Gonzalo Higuain and it reached Azpilicueta at the far post. The full-back’s shot was comfortably saved by Heaton.
Unlike the first half, the second half was boring and dull for most parts. Sarri brought on Giroud in place of Higuain in search of a winner. Burnley had the defensive answer to everything Chelsea had to throw in the second half. Sarri was sent off from his technical area after Kovacic picked up a yellow for his altercation with Barnes.
Hazard’s impressive showing for Chelsea went in vein as Burnley held on to snatch a point from a tough fixture. Sean Dyche was the happy man out of the two managers. Chelsea are now level on points with Tottenham and only a point above Arsenal with both their inter-city rivals having a game in hand.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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