Chelsea 2-2 Burnley: Ten-man Clarets claim hard-earned point following controversial red card and penalty

The Clarets were reduced to 10 men in highly controversial fashion at the end of the first-half when Lorenz Assignon was shown a second yellow card for conceding a penalty on Mykhailo Mudryk.

Assignon barely made any contact with the Chelsea man, which led to Vincent Kompany also being sent off following his remonstrations on the touchline.

Despite Cole Palmer dispatching the spot kick, Burnley managed to equalise through Josh Cullen at the start of the second-half.

Burnley battled bravely with 10 men but were undone by another Palmer strike 12 minutes from time.

It felt like that would be enough to secure the Chelsea win, but Burnley remain unfettered and levelled for a second time - on this occasion through Dara O’Shea.

The Clarets could even have won the game at the death with Jay Rodriguez rattling the crossbar, but - given the circumstances - a point will certainly be welcomed by those of a Clarets persuasion in their fight against relegation.

Burnley were without in-form striker David Fofana, who was ineligible to face his parent club.

But there was another surprise absence from Burnley’s starting XI, with regular starter Charlie Taylor dropping down to the bench.

Vitinho took his spot at left-back, while Zeki Amdouni and Lyle Foster were the two players to come into the side.

Elsewhere, Jordan Beyer, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Han-Noah Massengo, Aaron Ramsey, Luca Koleosho and Nathan Redmond all remain out.

Arijanet Muric kept his place in goal following his impressive Premier League debut against Brentford, which was the first time James Trafford had been dropped this season.

As for Chelsea, they made two changes from their last league outing, a 3-2 win against Newcastle United, as Benoît Badiashile and Mykhailo Mudryk replaced Trevoh Chalobah and Raheem Sterling.

One man who was starting was the in-form Cole Palmer, who produced the first attempt on goal after just two minutes with a rising shot that pinged into the side netting.

Burnley hit back with a couple of half decent openings themselves, with Wilson Odobert getting in good shooting positions on two separate occasions only to be crowded out before he could get a meaningful shot off at goal.

Jacob Bruun Larsen, meanwhile, saw a 25-yard free-kick glance off the wall and bounce out for a corner.

A sign of the promising start Burnley had made was the moans and groans that were audible from the Stamford Bridge faithful as Bruun Larsen got in behind their backline too easily before flashing a low shot just past the far post.

The Clarets had to be careful though, almost conceding after switching off with a defensive lapse that allowed Enzo Fernandez to get a shot off at goal, but Muric was there to tip it over his bar.

This prompted a spell of Chelsea pressure that saw Palmer fire wide with two low efforts in quick succession.

Neither effort troubled Muric in the Burnley goal, but his Chelsea counterpart Djordje Petrovic soon pulled off a superb save to deny Odobert the game’s first goal as he flew across goal to tip the winger’s curling effort away from his top corner.

The end-to-end nature of the game early on continued as Palmer was teed up once again, only this time to be denied by Dara O’Shea’s wonderful block.

Burnley felt they ought to have been awarded a clear foul when Lyle Foster appeared to be fouled just outside the Chelsea box.

Predictably, the hosts immediately countered and almost scored, but once again Muric came to their aid with a superb save with his legs to deny Nicolas Jackson.

Chelsea did find the back of the net minutes later when Axel Disasi scrambled home from close range from Mykhailo Mudryk’s teasing cross. But following a VAR check, the ‘goal’ was disallowed for a Disasi handball.

Josh Cullen saw a low volley well saved low down by Petrovic in another sign that Burnley held a real attacking threat.

But defensively Kompany’s men were far too open at times and it seemed only a matter of time until Chelsea would capitalise.

Burnley did miss a real opportunity to cause Chelsea problems though when Bruun Larsen was set free down the right thanks to a searching ball from Cullen. Bruun Larsen had time on his side but he failed to pick out Zeki Amdouni in the centre, who would have otherwise had a free shot at goal from a more than presentable position.

At the other end, Burnley were given another major let-off when Chelsea opened them up on the counter, with Jackson feeding Mudryk whose low shot was straight at Muric.

The Burnley keeper was back in the action a moment later when he raced off his line to deal with another searching ball over the top, which Jackson beat him to. But the Kosovon managed to recover to toe poke the ball behind before the Chelsea man could get a shot off at the empty net.

Chances continued to arrive at both ends, with Bruun Larsen missing a gilt-edged chance with a header that he directed wide of goal from Odobert’s teasing cross.

In such an open game, you felt like there would be drama and that drama duly arrived on the stroke of half time when Chelsea were awarded a penalty.

Not only that, Burnley were also reduced to 10 men as Lorenz Assignon was shown a second yellow for his very soft ‘foul’ on Mudryk inside the box.

There was barely any contact on the Chelsea winger, but once Darren England made the decision it was highly unlikely to be overturned by VAR - and so it proved.

Not only that, but Kompany was also sent off, shown a straight red for his outburst on the touchline after being left visibly furious by the referee’s controversial decision.

Palmer, with supreme confidence, dinked his penalty straight down the middle with Muric already committing himself to diving to his right.

Heading into the second-half a man down and a goal down, Burnley were left with it all to do. But within two minutes of the restart, they dramatically hauled themselves level with a goal of real brilliance from Cullen.

The midfielder exchanged a quick-one two with half-time substitute Josh Brownhill on the edge of the box before lashing home a pinpoint volley beyond Petrovic’s despairing dive.

Ironically, Burnley actually looked a lot more solid defending with 10 men because they had no option but to sit deep, which meant they were no longer giving up acres of space for Chelsea to attack.

Nevertheless, it was still swathe after swathe of Chelsea pressure and you felt it was only a matter of time before the hosts restored their lead.

But the game almost turned on its head when the 10 men of Burnley came within a whisker of taking the lead, only for Petrovic to make a flying stop to keep out Lyle Foster’s header.

Minutes later, Chelsea then came close to scoring only for Maxime Esteve to make a crucial block to deny Mudryk before celebrating like he scored a goal.

Burnley were defending superbly, but they were being pinned in relentlessly. Chelsea would eventually find their way through 13 minutes from time when Palmer made it 2-1 with his second of the game.

It was a clinical finish from the former Man City man to fire across Muric and into the bottom corner, but the chance was created by a sublime, subtle flick from sub Raheem Sterling.

Amazingly, Chelsea’s lead lasted for just three minutes as the 10-man Clarets equalised for a second time.

This time it came via the unlikely source of Dara O’Shea, who leapt highest to head home unopposed from a Burnley corner. While Petrovic managed to get a touch, he couldn’t stop it from nestling in the corner of his net.

Things could have got even better for the battling Clarets when, six minutes from time, Jay Rodriguez dribbled into the Chelsea box, twisted and turned before just being crowded out before he could get a shot off.

If Burnley were to claim a point, you knew they would have to ride their luck and that’s what happened when Sterling headed wide after being left completely unmarked barely six yards out.

Two minutes from time, another golden, golden chance fell Rodriguez’s way. Similar to O’Shea’s effort, a corner landed right on his head but he could only crash his header off the woodwork. The ball fell back to him, albeit awkwardly, and he could only scissor kick wide of the empty net.

Chelsea began to run out of ideas during stoppage-time and the resilient Clarets were able to hold on for a hard-earned point.

TEAMS

Chelsea: Petrovic, Gusto (Gilchrist), Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo (Sterling), Enzo, Gallagher (Madueke), Palmer, Mudryk, Jackson

Subs not used: Bettinelli, Thiago Silva, Acheampong, Casadei, Tauriainen, Washington

Burnley: Muric, Assignon, O’Shea, Esteve, Vitinho, Cullen, Berge, Bruun Larsen (Brownhill), Odobert (Gudmundsson), Amdouni (Taylor), Foster (Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Trafford, Ekdal, Cork, Benson, Tresor

Referee: Darren England