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Sean Dyche’s inspired substitutions enabled Burnley to take an unlikely point at Stamford Bridge and stop Chelsea’s winning run.
The Premier League leaders appeared to be heading for a routine victory when Kai Havertz, deputising at centre-forward for the injured Romelu Lukaku, headed in after 33 minutes shortly after he’d needed treatment for tumbling over an advertising hoarding.
But their chances of a fifth consecutive league win were ended when Dyche sent on Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra midway through the second half – and the pair combined for Vydra to nab an equaliser after 79 minutes.
Though a draw keeps Chelsea three points clear at the top while Burnley stay in the relegation zone, there is no doubt the visitors were the happier of the two teams at the final whistle.
Ross Barkley was the surprise inclusion in Thomas Tuchel’s line-up having last started a league game for Chelsea in 2019/20.
Burnley enjoyed their first win of the season against Brentford last weekend but Sean Dyche’s side were put on the back foot from the opening whistle.
Their goalkeeper Nick Pope made an excellent early stop to deny Callum Hudson-Odoi and Andreas Christensen went close with a header from Chelsea’s first corner.
Barkley’s first opportunity arrived after 12 minutes when he exchanged passes with the in-form James and was close to a spectacular finish attempting to chip into Pope’s top right-hand corner.
Without Lukaku and Timo Werner, Chelsea found Burnley tougher to break down than Norwich who had been hammered 7-0 at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago.
Tuchel was tetchy on the touchline, hollering at Dyche after he felt a foul on Barkley had gone unpunished and voicing his displeasure at Havertz giving the ball away cheaply.
Havertz tried to make amends with a run down
