If I didn't know the outcome and came into this thread I would figure we lost 3-0. 

Bit surprised by some of the comments....yeah we weren't great but a point at Burnley given their record is not that bad.  Hardly the best conditions to play well in.  Looked like a Sunday pub game given the condition of the pitch and weather complimented by Burnley hoof and hope tactics.

The overreaction is laughable you would think we were 10 points behind

I think this poor performance can be explained by a few things:

1) Indulgent officiating: a more strict referee would have come down much harder on Burnley than Kevin Friend did - I'm sure the incessant fouling affected Hazard's performance

2) An imperfect starting line-up: I would have started Cesc not Matic because Burnley are not as open or dangerous going forward as Arsenal and were likely to be more defensive

3) Costa not at his best: the Costa of November/December would probably have bagged a goal

4) A freak Burnley goal: let's face it, free kicks are very rarely scored like that

Will be interesting to see what City do at Bournemouth. They still don't entirely convince and Bournemouth can be tricky at home. Winning by the skin of your teeth at home against a relegation candidate doesn't convince anyone. 

Edited February 12, 20179 yr by DaRick

This was always going to be a hard match, Burnley are a decent organised side at home. Add to it weather conditions that didnt really suit our type of play and maybe we can look at this as a point won rather than 2 lost. We do though have to capitilise more on games when we are in the ascendancy like in the first half. Irrespective if we can win 9 of our last 13 games it doesn't really matter what the rest do.

2 losses & a defeat = -6 + (-2) = -8

Citeh will be getting at the rear of our arses

7 minutes ago, DrogbaIsKing said:

How exactly were burnley magnificent? They did nothing but for a great free kick 

They run hard and kick people, their pitch is a disgrace and their fans moan non-stop, the praise they get has been completely overstated.  

Burnley executed their game plan excellently today, a credit to their manager. There were one or two weak individual performances from players which Conte dealt with, but even so Burnley continued to frustrate us. Every other team would have struggled to get the three points here.

By the way, judging by some of the reactions in this thread, I suspect a large proportion of our fan base have only been Chelsea supporters for the last six months.

our rivals will have mid week european games to contend with now, so the fixtures will start to mount up for them.

That was pretty poor but it was freezing out there, Burnley had a game plan to kick lumps out of us and this ground is one of the toughest in the Premiership. All in all I'm happy with a point. We have extended our lead over Spurs and Man City winning at Bournemouth isn't a done deal. Bournemouth are crap usually but when they play top teams at home they usually put up a fight and cause an upset. We will have to hope they are fired up for that match tomorrow night. Only Courtois, Kante and Luiz turned up today. Conte will have some work to do on the training pitch. Onwards and upwards.

Edited February 12, 20179 yr by TheBluesBrother

1 minute ago, bluedave said:

Burnley executed their game plan excellently today, a credit to their manager. There were one or two weak individual performances from individual players which Conte dealt with, but even so Burnley continued to frustrate us. Every other team would have struggled to get the three points here.

By the way, judging by some of the reactions in this thread, I suspect a large proportion of our fan base have only been Chelsea supporters for the last six months.

This forum was more depressing than the weather. Some of the comments in here amounted to treason. How very fecking dare we have anything less than perfection. How dare Conte make the selections he does. Does the little f**ker know anything about football at all?????

 

Depressing. seriously to think people don't know what they've got and can't appreciate it without tearing it down.

we shd feel gutted. we have dropped 4 points in our last 3 games.  we could easily drop points at home to swansea and of course blip and pressure comes..  I guess we want to win the league the hard way. lets not forget we still play man u and mancity. so an 8 point lead isnt the greatest.

Hazard was bullied in the first half. 

Costa was miles away & mind blocked.

Conte failed to make changes early second half.

Three recipes to lose the title

 

and then this motherf**ker Friend whistles the end of the game before 4 minutes expires

 

and yes, we were total sh*t after they've scored

 

Just now, Blue Ballet said:

This forum was more depressing than the weather. Some of the comments in here amounted to treason. How very fecking dare we have anything less than perfection. How dare Conte make the selections he does. Does the little f**ker know anything about football at all?????

 

Depressing. seriously to think people don't know what they've got and can't appreciate it without tearing it down.

Love this. Agreed 100%. 

These kind of games happen and will continue to happen to all the teams in top 6. We are still in a great position and at least 8 points ahead.

Edited February 12, 20179 yr by Zero

Lacked the incisive play up top to really penetrate. Costa really poor. Hazard went hiding after a bright 20 mins. Dissappointing Thought kante was excellent. Matic waste of space in a game like that.

 

Could argue should have played a more attacking team from the start knowing we are going to dominate the ball, but even when the subs came on...there was no real change. Have to take the point and move on.

Another point in the bag 

another point on a way to the title

we go on

The overreaction here is ridiculous, I see that as a good point gained for us today, one of the hardest games we'll have between now and the end of the season. The conditions were tough and Kevin friend was far too lenient with their incessant fouling, but the negativity is crazy here. 

 

Our next 5 games are Swansea west ham watford stoke and palace...well have it well wrapped up by the end of that stretch 

Ugh, not that surprising a result but still annoying, Burnley are a horrible team, hope they eff off back to the Championship soon.

A reminder if any were needed that the title race is not over in February, however much a lot of the media have been saying it while simultaenous wanting us to drop points so they can write articles about an exciting closer title race again.

Hopefully today will be a wake up call to the players, I'm sure Conte will be making that clear to the team from what we know of his time at previous clubs.

We have the quality, time to shown we have got the determination again too - Come on Chelsea!

Not the worst result we could've got at a tricky ground to visit. Don't think Conte got the selection wrong, you don't break a winning formula, but Hazard and Costa just didn't look sharp at all today.

Matic will take the criticism for the goal, but he alone wasn't the problem. We played into Burnley's hands, the only route through this side was through the middle on the ground, yet Pedro was the only man making those runs. Too many pointless crosses from out wide, too many forced through balls that weren't on.

Credit to Burnley for their organisation. It's awful football to watch, but its often enough to keep an average side competitive. We've setup similarly ourselves in Europe in years gone by so we can't complain too much. Thought they got away with a ridiculous number of counter fouls without yellows, but its probably clutching at straws to imply a few more yellows would've changed the result.

10 points clear, probably 8 by Monday. It's a good lead, and it's close enough we shouldn't be getting complacent. Two weeks until the Swans game now, good timing I reckon for a much needed rest and regroup!

Gave it our best, but didn't have the necessary quality to win it for once. Fair play to Burnley who worked hard and probably was the closest to winning it. Just need to get back to winning ways against Swansea now.

We drew against Burnley 1-1 at SB when Jose was in charge. We also dropped points against Southampton on the way at home and drew to Arsenal.

Yet we still won the league at a canter with Fabregas smacking a ball into Brunt against WBA, because he could. 

People overreact so much.

Crap performance but the other top teams will have crap performances as well.

Tough fixture beforehand, weather conditons and there excellent home record made me worried - had the same type of feel going up to blackburn away in the winter months or even stoke during other seasons. Not many teams will come away from there with 3 pts thats for sure.

Man City have the chance to close the gap to 8 pts but they also have the Champions League and cup matches in between and I believe the next game after Bmouth is Utd at home? Hopefully Jose can do us a favour.

It's in our hands and looking back I bet we will be rather happy with 1 pts from this one.

On to the next!

Tottenham, City and Liverpool will also still slip up as they have shown all season.