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The Champions of England suffered a huge upset in the Premier League last time out with Burnley recording their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1971. Chelsea found themselves at a 3-0 deficit during a putrid first half.
Some would argue that Burnley were aided by a red card as early as the 14th minute that saw Gary Cahill receive his marching orders from Referee Craig Pawson.
Even before kick-off; much had been said about Chelsea’s ongoing injury and squad depth crises that had taken the likes of Eden Hazard, Pedro Rodriguez & Tiemoue Bakayoko out of contention for selection prior to the match, Victor Moses was also out suspended for the red card received during the FA cup final last season.
Instead, Chelsea started with the Trio of Jeremy Boga, Willian and Michy Batshuayi who started ahead of star signing Alvaro Morata at the top of a lopsided 3-4-3. The lack of depth in Chelsea’s squad meant that every single player on Chelsea’s bench aside from Wilfredo Caballero and Alvaro Morata was of an average age of below 22 and very few professional minutes between them.
Without any tangible creative footballer in their starting line-up, Burnley’s plan was clear, to hit Chelsea on the break or on set piece opportunities while giving Chelsea to work with the ball. This meant that in the 13 minutes prior to the red card, Chelsea had a total of 79% of the ball possession.
Gary Cahill went in high and with a sloppy tackle of Steven Defour right in front of the referee who rather harshly immediately produced a straight red card which turned the match on its’ head.
Sam Vokes starred for Burnley as he scored two headed goals in the first half, each goal on the other side of an impressive Stephen Ward volley.
Antonio Conte tried to remedy the deficit in the 59th by sending on Alvaro Morata for the ineffective Michy Batshuayi who gave Chelsea a life line a mere 10 minutes later with an impressive diving header.
Any chance of a full Chelsea come back seemed lost 9 minutes from time when Cesc Fabregas, who had been previously booked for sarcastically applauding the referee for an earlier contentious decision but David Luiz gave Chelsea a life line by rifling a volley past Tom Heaton after racing onto a Morata headed flick-on.
A frantic finale followed as Brady hit the woodwork with a smart set piece as Burnley eventually held on for a famous victory, piling more pressure on the Chelsea board to spend more on squad reinforcements.