A first-half header from Havertz is cancelled out by Vydra, as brave Burnley battle back to share the points with high-flying Chelsea!
A 79th-minute headed equaliser from Burnley’s Czech striker Matěj Vydra stunned English Premier League (EPL) leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, as the sides played out a 1-1 draw.
Vydra’s goal was the first Chelsea have conceded this season from open play. After the game, Blues manager Thomas Tuchel aired his feelings to the press: “Of course I’m disappointed. If we played this game 100 times, we’d win 99 times. Today we didn’t win it. The second goal would have decided it. It’s always possible you miss one ball, one cross, and this can happen. It’s our fault. We should have scored. We created so many chances,” said the Chelsea boss.
“You have the opponent where you want to have them. You create so many chances. We let them believe it was possible to steal a point by pure luck and that’s what happened. This is not the first game like this and won’t be the last. I was impressed by the performance, the attitude, the quality. It’s football, it was against us today,” the disappointed manager continued.
Chelsea dominated possession throughout the match, but couldn’t make it count, as Nick Pope in the Burnley goal was continually called on to make impressive saves.
However, Kai Havertz’s first-half strike was the only thing that separated the sides at the break, after Reece James floated a cross into the box on 33 minutes, which the German striker headed into the net.
Burnley had few opportunities to attack, but only needed one to find their equaliser.
Jay Rodriguez nodded a cross down into Vydra’s path and he hit it into the net from the centre of the penalty box on 79 minutes.
The 1-1 draw means that Chelsea remain top of the EPL table on 26 points. Burnley currently occupy the 3rd relegation place, on 8 points and in 18th position.
