Chelsea got their 2014/15 campaign of to a flying start at Turf Moor this evening, convincingly beating the newly promoted outfit from Lancashire.
The biggest decision of the day was leaving Petr Cech out of the starting line up and including 22-year old Thibaut Courtois.
After a shaky start, Burnley took the lead through Scott Arfield, who produced a stunning strike on thirteen minutes much to the delight of the Burnley faithful. Courtois was beaten all ends up, and Turf Moor was rocking. Four minutes later, parity was restored when Diego Costa fired home from eight yards. It was from this point that Chelsea went on to dominate proceedings.
A beautiful Hazard run, a floated cross from Brana and an exquisite feigned-shot from Fabregas set up what turned out to be Andre Schurrle’s winner on twenty one minutes. One of the better team goals you will see this season.
From this point onwards the four thousand travelling fans got behind their team, and non-stop singing was observed through to half-time.
Michael Oliver overlooked a Diego Costa penalty shout and instead he booked the Brazilian-turned-Spaniard for diving. Replays show that he was clearly tripped, Chelsea should have been awarded a penalty, and Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton sent off.
No panic, though, as two minutes later Ivanovic joined the party with a tap in from a Cesc Fabregas corner. Two assists from the former Arsenal man.
The rest of the half remained uneventful and Mourinho seemed pleased with his team, if not the referee.
The game restarted, and Thibaut Courtois was called into action, steering Arfield’s curling effort wide. Chelsea continued to dominate possession, creating some glorious passing moves with no end product.
As the game grew older, it was clear that there were to be no more goals. Willian, Mikel and Didier Drogba entered the fray for Schurrle, Oscar, and Hazard respectively.
Much has been made of his last touch for the club, but his first one this time around was a headed pass to Diego Costa, which I though was quite fitting.
Chelsea impressed, and it was clear to me that this season could well be ours. Fabregas and Hazard were magical on the ball, Schurrle and Diego Costa were ruthless infront of goal. Special mention to Oscar, who won’t get as much praise as his teammates, but I thought he really put a shift in today.
Our back four were solid, as was Matic and Courtois. No Chelsea player could have done much about Burnley’s goal.
Let us know your thoughts on the match in the comments below.
