After a long wait the Premier League finally returned for the London giants. The return meant a trip to Turf Moor to entertain newly promoted side Burnley which would make it the second successive time Chelsea played a promoted side in their first game of the season.
After the release of the line up, Chelsea fans were delighted to see new signings Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas included in the starting 11 along with Thibaut Courtios, who had come back from 3 successive loan spells at Atletico Madrid.
Burnley got the game underway infront of their own fans. They had a fair share of the ball with Chelsea doing most of the defending in the opening exchanges.
In the 14th minute, the home side were rewarded for their pressure as Scott Arfield lashed on to a perfectly weighted cross from Matthew Taylor on the wing, delighting the home fans.
Chelsea replied in quick fashion and in the 17th minute when the ball rebounded off the post and fell kindly to Diego Costa who smashed the ball into the net in fine fashion.
Chelsea dominated possession from then on and 5 minutes later, after a dazzling run in the final third by Eden Hazard, he decided to distribute the ball to Bransilav Ivanovic who weighted the perfect cross to Fabregas and, just when you thought the passing couldn’t get any better, the Spainard weighted an inch perfect through ball to Andre Schurrle who finished off a fine move in similar fasion.
Chelsea continued to mount pressure and in the 31st minute controversy struck when Costa was allegedly brought down by the Burnley goalkeeper.
However. the referee in charge brandished a yellow card, much to the surprise of every one but it would little matter as Chelsea scored another goal in the 34th minute thanks to Ivanovic thumping home a Fabregas corner to help the Spainaird open his second Premier League debut with his second assist of the evening.
Chelsea went in the break in the lead and had impressed the fans who were wonderful as usual.
The second half was less exciting as it looked like Chelsea looked to rest on the lead and allow Burnley to do the attacking.
Both teams used all their substitutions as Burnley replaced Lucas Jutkiewicz, Matthew Taylor and Danny Ings were replaced Ashley Barnes, Michael Kightly and Marvin Sordell respectively, while on the Blue side of the changes we saw goal scorer Schurrle replaced by fan favourite Willian, Oscar was replaced by Mikel. Then, perhaps the most most exciting substitution was made, as Player of the Year Eden Hazard was replaced by club legend Didier Drogba.
The second half was a bit disappointing as Chelsea gave away possession numerous times but our defence remained solid and we kept the scoreline the same up until full time as we ended our first weekend of the season on top of the Premier League table.
37 more till Glory.
