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Chelsea logo
Premier League
Feb 21, 2015 at 3pm UK
 
Burnley logo

1-1

Ivanovic (14')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Mee (81')

Live Commentary: Chelsea 1-1 Burnley - as it happened

Relive Sports Mole's live coverage of Chelsea's 1-1 draw at home to Burnley.
2

Chelsea missed the chance to move 10 points clear of second-placed Manchester City in the Premier League title race after being held to a 1-1 draw with Burnley.

Branislav Ivanovic fired the Blues into a 1-0 half-time lead at Stamford Bridge, but a red card for Nemanja Matic on 70 minutes aided the Clarets on the comeback trail.

Sean Dyche's side then grabbed a timely equaliser on 81 minutes through Ben Mee to earn the visitors a hard-fought point in their battle against relegation.

Below, relive the action with our live commentary.


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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our live text commentary of what should be a routine win for highly-flying Chelsea against relegation-threatened Burnley. I'm Shane, and I'll be guiding you through all the action at Stamford Bridge as the hosts look to move 10 points clear of second-placed Manchester City at the summit!

Of course, City could shorten that deficit to seven points again with victory over Newcastle tonight, but there will be fierce pressure on them to do that if Chelsea win here - and they most definitely should. Victory for Burnley wouldn't quite qualify as a David vs. Goliath tale, considering League One outfit Bradford won here a few weeks ago, but it is very unlikely unfortunately. Here's why:

With just four wins all season, the Clarets sit 19th in the Premier League table and it's growing increasingly difficult to see them avoiding relegation. They fought bravely in the 3-1 defeat at Manchester United last time out, but there is a dearth of quality in this Burnley team and you have to fancy that Chelsea will expose it here once more.

In contrast, having won 18 of their 25 Premier League games and losing just two, Jose Mourinho's side sit top of the standings and, well, only a fool would back against them lifting the title in May at this stage. They're a brilliant, brilliant team, and Burnley will discover this first-hand again this afternoon.

Interestingly, it was the reverse fixture back in August which set the tone for both sides' season. They clashed at Turf Moor in their first game of the season as Chelsea ran out 3-1 winners. Scott Arfield actually opened the scoring for Burnley that night, but further first-half goals from Diego Costa, Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic secured the away win.

Right, let's get into some team news shall we? Is Diego Costa set to return from his domestic ban? Is Juan Cuadrado earning a recall? Is Danny Ings, Burnley's only chance of victory, starting? I'll answer all these questions in just a few minutes.

Chelsea XI: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Filipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Cuadrado, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa

Burnley XI: Heaton; Trippier, Shackell, Keane, Mee; Boyd, Jones, Arfield, Kightly; Barnes, Ings

Chelsea subs: Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ramires, Willian, Drogba and Remy

Burnley subs: Gilks, Duff, Wallace, Vokes, Reid, Jutkiewicz, Ward

Let's start with Chelsea then and I can confirm that Mourinho makes four changes from the 1-1 Champions League draw with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday. Firstly, Kurt Zouma and Felipe Luis come into defence in place of Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta, while Brazilian duo Ramires and Willian drop out for Oscar and new boy Juan Cuadrado. Costa returns from domestic suspension to spearhead the attack. Not a bad lineup, is it!

Meanwhile, Burnley, who haven't had a match in 10 days since that defeat at United, make no changes from that result. Danny Ings and Ashley Barnes continue up front, with George Boyd, Scott Arfield, Michael Kightly and David Jones in midfield. Michael Keane continues in defence alongside centre-half partner Jason Shackell, while Ben Mee and Kieran Trippier line up in the full-back positions.

Who can Chelsea look to for a bit of inspiration then? Well it's very much a case of take your pick, isn't it. Firstly, we've got Costa, who has 17 Premier League goals in 19 games this season. Then we've got Eden Hazard, arguably Chelsea's best player, while Fabregas and Juan Cuadrado also represent significant threats for Burnley to handle. Poor Tom Heaton might feel like Tony Montana in the last scene from Scarface; threats coming at him from all angles.

And what about Burnley? Easy really, isn't it. It's Danny Ings of course who, with nine Premier League goals this season, is easily his team's primary goal threat. He's also got five in his last six league outings, including a fantastic header at Old Trafford last time out, so if Chelsea's defence do have any concerns today it'll be the little man.

Prediction: Nostradamus, that French fella who predicted 9/11 and all sorts of stuff, is actually my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, and we've been chatting about this match via a seance recently. He said: "Chelsea have this in the bag mate. I fancy 3-1, with Costa scoring two." So there we have it. 20 minutes to go.

Stamford Bridge is filling up nicely and in a week where a small number of Chelsea fans made headlines for the wrong reasons, having denied a black man entry to a Paris train on Tuesday, let's hope the good, decent supporters restore a bit of dignity with a bit of passion here today. Here, the players go through their paces with 'Equality' emblazoned on the shirts.

Did you know? It's been, hmm, only 44 years since Burnley have managed a win at Chelsea? Yep. The Clarets won 1-0 here back in 1971 thanks to a Steve Kindon goal. Since that they've lost five and drawn one of their last six visits to West London. Will they banish that record today? Not according to the bookies....

The Blues are 1/5 to win this afternooon which, if you're not gambling savy, means that you win £1 if you put a fiver on. Naturally, Dyche and co are 14/1 which, if you're still not gambling savy, means that an away win is about as likely as Chelsea's female physio going out with me. That's about 1,000,000/1 actually. Hold me.



Right, the players are entering the field to the sound of that dreadful Premier League anthem and we're about four minutes from kickoff. Martin Atkinson takes charge of this one, having officiated Real Madrid's Champions League clash at Schalke 04 on Wednesday.

KICKOFF: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at the Bridge. Chelsea, playing from right to left, get us underway. Just a reminder that Chelsea will go 10 points clear of second-placed City for a few hours at least if they win here. Massive.

Burnley are in nosebleed territory already as Kieran Trippier prepares to whip in a corner, but Thibaut Courtois punches away. Good goalkeeping.

SAVE! Good move, as Juan Cuadrado connects with Felipe Luis's header but Tom Heaton tips over for a corner. Cesc Fabregas whips in the corner, but Burnley clear their lines. Good save that.

SHOT! Brilliant technique here as Ashley Barnes volleys a dropping ball, and he gets a sweet connection on it but it's straight at Courtois. Decent game so far it has to be said.

Kieran Trippier has just TRIPPed over. That's about all that has happened in the past few minutes as the game quietens down after a decent enough first eight minutes or so.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! Chelsea 1-0 Burnley (Ivanovic)

Chelsea find the breakthrough, but this one is all about Eden Hazard. It's magic from the Belgian, as he dances his away past Ben Mee before biding his time and pulling back for Ivanovic to tap home his 30th Chelsea goal - and second in the space of four days after scoring in Paris. Brilliant from Hazard.

SHOT! Jose Mourinho's side nearly grab a second as Tom Heaton is forced to beat away Hazard's toe poke, and Keane clears his lines before Costa can pounce on the rebound.

Brilliant from Juan Cuadrado, who looks like he's been playing with this team for much longer than he has been. His clever lay-off releases Costa, who squares to Hazard before the attack breaks down, but Cuadrado has been quite impressive thus far.

Martin Atkinson didn't cover himself in much glory here as he denies Barnes a free kick in a very promising position after the Burnley man was felled by Zouma. Poor decision.

I'll go out on a limb and say that there's a goal or two here for Burley today. They've looked decent enough in the final third, and Ings's cross has just deflected agonisingly wide there a moment ago. Chelsea in control, but they've been given one or two warning signs.

There's really not a lot in this one at all as we've said and Burnley, to their credit, have actually been the better team in the last few minutes. Of course, it's a massive ask for them to get anything from this, but they've done little wrong so far.

PENALTY APPEAL: Chelsea, and Ivanovic in particular, are furious after the Serbian alleges that his shot struck the hand of Michael Kightly - and he looked like he had a case, but it wasn't given.

Just seen that penalty appeal again, and Kightly was massively lucky there because it was a stonewall penalty. Atkinson hasn't had the greatest of games thus far.

Bit of worrying sights now as Kurt Zouma lies on the ground following a collision with Barnes. They've obviously got Cahill on the bench, but let's see if the youngster can run it off.

Burnley Yellow: We nearly went the whole half without a card, but George Boyd hacks down Oscar and picks up a booking. Incidentally, Zouma is back on the field.

Oh no. Martin Atkinson is having a shocker. He has just denied Chelsea a second penalty, and this was as clear-cut as the previous one as Jason Shackell literally pushes Diego Costa over inside the box. Poor decision.

HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Burnley

Believe it or not, but Sean Dyche will be the happier of both managers heading into the break, folks. His Burnley side haven't done too much wrong in truth. They trail from Branislav Ivanovic's 13th-minute opener, but beside that the Clarets have looked great at the back, affording Chelsea little to no goalscoring chances.

We must speak about Martin Atkinson, though, as the referee denied Chelsea not one, but two clear-cut penalties in that half. First, he missed Michael Kightly's blatant handball to block an Ivanovic shot, before waving away appeals after Costa was bundled over in the box by Shackell.

RESTART: Aaaaaaand we are back underway, my friends. Can Burnley come back? Let's not rule them out. They were 2-0 down at Man City a few weeks back and came away with a 2-2 draw so, you know, there's previous there.

We haven't seen an awful lot of Danny Ings just yet, and we may not see much more of him as he hobbles off the field for treatment. He hasn't been subbed.

SAVE! Brilliant from Courtois as he tips Ashley Barnes's ferocious strike over the bar. Promising for Burnley.

CLOSE! Ivanovic, as he so often does, evades his marker to flick Fabregas's corner at goal, but it trickles just wide of the post. Matic looked poised to tap it home but the ball had too much legs.

CHANCE! We've waited about 55 minutes to see Diego Costa, and he's missed his chance. He latches on to Hazard's precision ball but his left-footed strike is beaten away by Heaton. Had it been on his right and it might well be 2-0.

CHANCE! Ivanovic whips a beautiful cross into the box but it trickles out for a goal kick after Costa failed to get the lightest of touches necessary to flick home. Still 1-0, but it could, and should, be a bit more.

What a brilliant challenge from Shackell. Costa beat the offside trap, but the angle is well too tight for a shot, so he fizzes it low and hard into the box and Cuadrado looks certain to tap home, but Shackell's last-ditch tackle saves Burnley. Excellent.

Chelsea sub: We've seen our first sub now as Willian replaces Cuadrado, who had a decent hour or so but not decent enough for Mourinho it seems.

The longer it stays 1-0 the better chance Burnley have of nicking an equaliser - and they just might. Chelsea, for all their quality, haven't fashioned too many chances.

RED CARD! Chelsea down to 10 men. Ashley Barnes goes in high on Matic, and the Serbian reacts furiously by pushing him to the ground and it earns him a red card! Barnes, in truth, deserved punishment too for a bad tackle but he has escaped a yellow. Huge last 20 minutes now.

Mourinho's post-match comments are going to be very, very interesting. The Portuguese was fined £25,000 not long ago for suggesting that officials have an agenda against Chelsea, and after seeing his side denied two penalties, and no action for Barnes in the tackle that led to Matic's red card, Mourinho will be furious!

15 minutes remaining now and Burnley bossing the possession stakes, but it's still a big ask for them to grab an equaliser because they've looked a little short on quality in the final third.

CLOSE! Ramires goes very, very close to sealing the points with a fierce strike that whistles past the post.

Burnley sub: Sam Vokes comes on for Michael Kightly for the last 10 minutes or so. 4-3-3 then. Let's see if it bears fruit.

GOAL!!!!!!!!! CHELSEA 1-1 BURNLEY (Mee)

Unbelievable scenes at Stamford Bridge as Burnley draw level through left-back Mee, who climbs above Ramires to head Arfield's corner past Courtois. Amazing. 6'3 Matic probably would've been marking Mee, and that's the result of his rage.

Looks like Didier Drogba is going to come on for Chelsea. What do Burnley do? Stick or twist? It's a tricky position for Dyche to be in. The three points is here for them in my view.

It's all Burnley now but it doesn't look like they're going to score. Chelsea, despite having three at the back, look comfortable in defence and I'd be hugely surprised if either side wins this.

CLOSE! Oh no Hazard volleys well over the bar; so much so that it's probably out of the stadium, and that's probably their last chance.

FOUR MINUTES ADDED ON:

Ben Mee is down on the ground and that's going to eat away a little more time it seems. What a brilliant result this will be if Burnley win a point.

Backs to the wall stuff for Burnley now as we enter the final minute of stoppage time and, as it stands, Burnley are earning a point.

CHANCE! Oh no Ings has a chance to win it, but he fires it well over the bar from a really good position and that'll be that I think.

FULL TIME: CHELSEA 1-1 BURNLEY

That's it. Brilliant result for Burnley as Ben Mee cancels out Branislav Ivanovic's first-half opener.

That's not the full story though, is it? Nope, because Nemanja Matic was sent off on 70 minutes in an incident which helped Burnley get back into the game; not least because he would have been marking Ben Mee from the decisive corner!

Anyways, that's all we've got time for, folks. Stay tuned for analysis, ratings and reaction and enjoy your weekend!

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