The front of Chelsea’s shirts displayed the nondescript logo of the AI firm they’ve found as a temporary sponsor and so much of this place still seems to exude impermanence and uncertainty. Liam Rosenior seemed to be sharing a dug-out seat with his assistant, Justin Walker, who stood up to vacate it each time the manager wanted to take the weight off his feet.
Burnley‘s late equaliser – striker Zian Flemming unmarked as he ran to meet James Ward Prowse’s corner – saw half-hearted boos greet the final whistle and it could have been even worse. Burnley’s Jacob Brunn Larsen sent a header over the bar from a second Ward Prowse corner, moments after the first.
The late heist was precisely what Scott Parker’s side had planned for and, given Chelsea’s vast dominance having taken such an early lead, succumbing to it was criminal.
The finale was not the only part of the occasion which contributed to a rather disquieting sense that Rosenior has too much public exuberance for his own good. His extended public hug for Scott Parker just before kick-off just seemed too long for the red-hot cauldron of this competition. You wondered how his advance talk of a ‘two-day tactical lead-in’ to a home game in Burnley would have played out with his squad.
Rosenior claps a lot while issuing instructions, though there’s not much evidence that anyone is listening. When Reece James arrived at the technical area during a second half pause in play, he was busy writing something down on a pad. By the team he looked up, the captain had gone.
The necessary message – ‘maintain intensity’ – did not need a pen and paper, yet Chelsea resorted to a game of walking football in a second half during which they didn’t manage a shot on target. Rosenior had so few attacking options on the bench that he sent on a sixth defender after withdrawing Cole Palmer early.
The source for positivity was the man with the dreadlocks who had the banner depicting Didier Drogba in his eyeline during the first half. Joao Pedro plays in a state of relentless awareness, gripping the sleeves of the jersey pulled down over his hands, cognisant of the remotest chance to pounce.
Chelsea were once again punished for their wastefulness and ill-discipline at Stamford Bridge
Burnley left it late but clinging on away might have given them a vital point towards avoiding relegation at the end of the season
Burnley’s Joe Worrall was the unfortunate soul assigned the job of dealing with the Brazilian for much of the time and it seemed like a kind of a haunting. Worrall, who acquitted himself well, was constantly looking around his shoulder to see where Joao Pedro.
When they went up for an aerial ball together towards the end of the first half, you expected Worrall, who has a three-inch height advantage, to win. He came off second best with a blow to the leg and limped away. The striker blends that kind of physicality with clever diagonal movements off the ball and a capacity to intuit where others are. Rosenior said before this game that the 24-year-old could become world class and for once his exuberance didn’t great. In time, that label could be fitting.
The goal he scored inside four minutes – sliding in to convert Pedro Neto’s cross after a flat ball on the perpendicular had destroyed Burnley’s defence – was the obvious contribution, making it seven goals in nine games for him.
Less perceptible was the distraction he posed early on, as Worrall and defensive partner Maxime Esteve leapt around the Burnley box, throwing themselves at everything they could block. This created space for those around Joao Pedro and the passes he found for Cole Palmer in particular were neat and crisp and full of a sense of the possibilities. If Palmer’s touch had not been so poor all afternoon, Chelsea might have capitalised and quickly sealed a game which for large part had seemed like a training exercise.
Wesley Fofana was the latest of Chelsea’s reckless squad to be given his marching orders
The defender was sent off in the second-half and Burnley began to smell blood in the water
Joao Pedro had opened the scoring for the hosts after just four minutes, which seemed to hint at the possibility of a rout
But instead Chelsea did little as Burnley grew in statue and look close to slipping out of contention for Champions League football
There were pitifully few other shining lights as Chelsea struggled to break down a side seeking only to stay in touch and nick a late point. The only player in Claret capable of riling Chelsea fans had been Hannibal Mejbri – whom they declared to be ‘just a shit Cucurella’, because of their respective lively hairstyles. The former Manchester United man was booked for a challenge on Caicedo but at least showed some fighting spirit.
Yet the arrival of Ward-Prowse turned the game. Chelsea lost Wesley Fofana to a red card for a lunging challenge on him, which followed a yellow for a foul on Hannibal. Chelsea could have no complaints, given that Fofana made contact when already booked. Palmer departed in the ensuing reshuffle, with Joao Pedro replacing ten minutes from time.
Ward-Prowse’s set-piece delivery is well known and his decisive corner was impeccable. When a chance fell to Joao Pedro’s replacement, Liam Delap, at the death, he fired over. It was a desperately poor outcome.