Chelsea 2-2 Burnley: Blues held to frustrating draw by 10-man Clarets
Chelsea suffered another setback in their erratic season on Saturday, when they were held to a 2-2 home draw by 10-man, relegation-threatened Burnley, who nearly took all three points in the dying moments.
Mauricio Pochettino's expensively assembled but young side appeared to be in control when Burnley's Lorenz Assignon was shown a second yellow card for tangling with Mykhailo Mudryk, and top scorer Cole Palmer converted the penalty in the 44th minute.
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany also received a red card for protesting the spot-kick decision.
However, Clarets captain Josh Cullen stunned Stamford Bridge by scoring two minutes into the second half with a shot off the outside of his boot from 20 metres.
Chelsea struggled to capitalise on their numerical advantage until Palmer scored again in the 78th minute, this time with a low shot after receiving a neat back-heeled pass from substitute Raheem Sterling.
Burnley, however, refused to give up and equalised three minutes later when Dara O'Shea's powerful header from a corner squeezed through Djordje Petrovic's gloves.
Chelsea looked for a winner, but their defence remained vulnerable, and Burnley substitute Jay Rodriguez hit the crossbar from another corner in the 88th minute.
Chelsea have now conceded two goals in five consecutive matches, three in the Premier League and two in the FA Cup.
Pochettino said he was "upset and disappointed" with his team's failure to show the fight he expects from them when not in possession of the ball.
"We didn’t show the capacity, the energy, the hunger, not the minimum to compete in the Premier League," the Argentine told reporters. "Sorry, but I am not happy with the performance today when we don't have the ball."
Some home fans booed at the final whistle, but there was no repeat of the supporters' anger directed at Pochettino and Chelsea's American owners, which was evident earlier this month in a 2-2 draw at Brentford.
Chelsea remain in 11th place in the table with 40 points after the draw. Burnley are second from bottom with 18 points, four behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest in the safety zone.
Burnley assistant manager Craig Bellamy, who was filling in for the dismised Kompany, said the team was focused on securing the results needed to avoid relegation after being promoted only last season, beginning with Wolverhampton Wanderers' visit to Turf Moor on Tuesday.
"We still have belief, we still have a great chance," Bellamy said. "You can only control what you can control and on Tuesday we have another opportunity to get another result."
SportsLigue