Chelsea 1-1 Burnley: Matej Vydra punishes wasteful Blues after Kai Havertz header

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Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_6 November 2021

Chelsea missed the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League as Matej Vydra’s goal earned Burnley a smash-and-grab point at Stamford Bridge.

With Liverpool not in action until Sunday, the Blues were looking to go five points clear at the head of the table, but were punished for some wasteful finishing as Vydra’s 79th-minute goal cancelled out Kai Havertz’s first-half header.

Thomas Tuchel made four changes to the side that started against Malmo in the Champions League in midweek, including handing a first league start of the season to Ross Barkley.

The Blues flew out of the traps and had numerous early chances to take the lead, Andreas Christensen missing the best of them as he glanced a header wide of the far post from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross after a well-worked short corner.

Nick Pope was alert to keep out Jorginho’s flicked header and reacted sharply to stop Reece James’ cross deflecting in off Ben Mee.

In the end, the Blues had to wait a until a little after the half-hour mark for the deserved opener to arrive as Havertz - who moments earlier had been receiving treatment after a nasty collision with the advertising hoardings - got onto the end of James’ wonderful cross to head home.

Chelsea’s dominance continued after the break as Thiago Silva diverted another James delivery off the outside of the post with his shoulder, while some wonderful defending from Charlie Taylor lifted Havertz’s close-range effort over the bar, before Barkley blasted high into the stand from an excellent position.

Eleven minutes from time, Chelsea were finally made to pay as the visitors came up with a well-worked leveller, Ashley Westwood finding Jay Rodriguez with an excellent back-post delivery and the substitute cushioning across goal for Vydra to apply the finish.

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