Chelsea move within touching distance of league leaders after win at Burnley

They ground out a result here, with Maresca noting how difficult Turf Moor is as an old-fashioned pitch with the players so close to the stands. They need to keep this away run going and also get Liam Delap scoring now he is back from injury. With Palmer due back after another two matches, Maresca has the ingredients in his team to keep pace at the top.

Victory extended an extraordinary run for Chelsea, who have now won their last eight games when given the 12.30pm television slot on a Saturday. Maresca was not happy with the broadcasters after also being asked to play in the lunchtime game after the international break in October. “We accept it once but not twice in a row,” he said.

And this match followed a similar pattern to their win over Nottingham Forest a month ago, with a slow but solid enough start before taking control of the game with a goal. The early start in Lancashire also meant more time to recover before facing Barcelona on Tuesday.

Maresca appeared to have Barça in mind when he rested Wesley Fofana and had Moisés Caicedo on the bench after he went on international duty carrying a knock and played two games for Ecuador. Reece James also came off at half-time, a pre-planned substitution so the captain is fully fit for the Spanish champions followed by Arsenal next weekend.

“We are confident that we are doing well,” Maresca said. “We could have done many, many things better in this game but we won and we are ready to prepare for Tuesday and Sunday. It was a tough game for many reasons: after the international break, 12.30pm in the afternoon, Burnley away, and this type of pitch.”

The only notable action of the opening exchanges was Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez hitting team-mate Fernández in the back of the head with a drop-kick. When Chelsea eventually took the lead, eight minutes before half-time, it was the perfect example of Maresca “inverting” his left-back.

Marc Cucurella does not just move into central midfield when he inverts, the Spain international pushes forward into the No 10 role. When Tosin Adarabioyo hit a long pass forward for the goal, Cucurella was the furthest forward and held up the ball.

With Jamie Gittens brought into play, a cross was sent to the far post where Neto scored his fourth goal of the season with a diving header. “It was funny because yesterday in training I had the same cross and the header was really bad. The guys were joking with me,” said Neto.

Burnley may have had claims for a penalty in the first half when Trevoh Chalobah used his hand to stop the ball to take a goal-kick and it was unclear whether the ball was already in play.

“I have just seen it back and it looked like a penalty,” Scott Parker, the Burnley manager, said. “I remember Tyrone Mings last season. The ball is live, you can tell from the goalkeeper’s next action the ball is live. He makes another angle because the ball is in play. I don’t know if they looked at it with VAR.

In the second half, Benoît Badiashile was yellow-carded for shoving Maxime Estève into a goalpost but the incident was before a corner and no penalty was given. “I don’t know why he’s pulled it up. Bring the ball into play and if someone is fouling, award a penalty,” Parker added.

Fernández’s goal came with two minutes left when Chelsea went from their back line to attack with a fast, passing attack. Neto eventually sent Marc Guiu away and the substitute muscled past Axel Tuanzebe before cutting back for Fernández.

Did Chelsea get away with a bizare handball?

Chelsea appeared to escape from conceding what would have been a bizarre penalty in their win at Burnley.

The claims for a spot-kick came when Robert Sánchez passed a goal-kick to his defender, Trevoh Chalobah, who was standing just a couple of yards away. The ball appeared to be “live” and in play as Chalobah put his hand on it before eventually passing it back to Sánchez.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]