As if the Paris incident wasn’t enough. Chelsea FC’s title run took a hit when they were held to 1-1 draw at the Bridge by Burnley. Branislav Ivanovic opened the scoring by passing in the ball into the net for his 4th goal in his last 6 matches. That adds up to 6 goals for the season for the right back and just for your information, Manchester United’s big money loan signing Radamel Falcao has 4.
Burnley equalized at the end of the match when Ben Mee rose above Ramiers to score a header past Thibaut Courtois who did not have much to do in the course of the match. The whole game was marred with horrible refereeing decisions by Martin Atkinson and a certain someone named Ashley Barnes.
Chelsea FC started the game rather slow, as signs of fatigue were evident in the body language of some players after the mid week clash with PSG. Eden Hazard was one of the few who looked fresh and was pulling the strings of every Chelsea attack. In the 14th minute Ivanovic put Chelsea in front after Hazard skipped past Burnley defenders and offered the ball in a golden platter for the Serbian to just pass it in to the net for his 3rd goal in 3 consecutive matches.
Chelsea pushed hard for a second goal but Burnley defended narrow and forced the Blues to go wide. Chelsea found it difficult to notch up a gear as the fixtures are coming in heavy and fatigue is becoming an issue.
Chelsea were denied a clear penalty to go two in front when Michael Kightly clearly lifted his arm away from his body to stop the shot going towards goal. Another clear penalty decision, which as usual did not go our way, was when Diego Costa was given a two-handed shove by a Burnley defender in the penalty box. Jose Mourinho looked a frustrated figure as he as well as the whole Chelsea FC fan base knew that the Blues should have been 3 goals up.
The temperature rose to another level in the second half when Nemanja Matic was sent off for retaliating against Barnes and pushing him. Matic is one of the coolest heads in the whole of Chelsea’s roster, but when we saw the replay, we saw just why he acted like that. Barnes challenge was an absolute horrendous one which could have ended Matic’s campaign, and the challenge definitely looked intentional.
It was such an awful tackle which makes Diego Costa’s so called stamp on Emre Can look tame in comparison. Barnes should have gotten a straight red while I agree Matic should have also maintained his calm. Matic is now suspended from the Capital One Cup final, against West Ham and Southampton. It would be a shocker if Barnes doesn’t face any retrospective action from the FA.
So, if we are to see the main points of the game, Barnes challenge on Matic (no card), and 2 clear cut penalties denied.
After the dismissal of Matic, Chelsea FC had to defend to keep their slender lead, but it wasn’t to be as Burnley defender Mee headed home an equalizer in the 81st minute much to the frustration and anger of Mourinho and us Chelsea fans. So, if we are to take a look at the main points of the game, Barnes challenge on Matic (no card), and 2 clear cut penalties denied. I guess we will be seeing many more ‘#CampaignAgainstChelsea’ in the coming days on Twitter.
Photos by @cfcunoffical. On Twitter and at CFCUnofficial.com