Home debutant Robbie Brady scored a memorable free-kick to earn Burnley a 1-1 draw on Sunday that prevented Chelsea moving 12 points clear at the Premier League summit.
Brady
cancelled out an early strike from Pedro and while the point stretched
Chelsea's lead to 10 points, their advantage will be trimmed to eight
points if Manchester City win at Bournemouth on Monday.
Brady's goal continued his recent run of success against Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, with the winger having also scored the winning goal for Ireland against Conte's Italy in the Euro 2016 group stage.
"We must be disappointed at the point because I think this type of game we could win," said Conte.
"It
is a pity. We started very well and created chances to score and then
Burnley found the goal with the free-kick. Now it is important to
restart.
"We know there is a long way (to the end of the season). It is important to work and play this type of game and fight."
Burnley,
whose home record is bettered only by second-place Tottenham Hotspur
and Chelsea themselves, looked like they might be swept away following
an electrifying start from the league leaders.
But
Sean Dyche's team, who had won seven straight games at Turf Moor after
losing to Manchester City in mid-November, showed great resilience and
deservedly equalised after 24 minutes through Brady.
Nemanja
Matic's foul on Joey Barton on the edge of the area presented Brady, a
club-record £13 million ($16.2 million, 15.3 million euros) signing from
Norwich City last month, with his chance.
He took it in style, curling a magnificent 20-yard free-kick over the wall and into the top-left corner.
That cancelled out an equally impressive opener from Chelsea that was started, and finished, by Pedro in the seventh minute.
The
Spanish winger helped begin the attack deep in his own half with a pass
to Eden Hazard who, in turn, fed Victor Moses on the right.
Furious tempo
After
skipping past Brady's crude challenge, Moses crossed for Pedro, who had
covered nearly 70 yards, and his low, angled shot gave Tom Heaton no
chance in the Burnley goal.
Chelsea had threatened
to simply sweep their hosts away during a positive opening in which
they repeatedly hit Burnley on the break.
play
Chelsea's
Brazilian-born Spanish striker Diego Costa (2nd right) has his shot
blocked during the English Premier League match between Burnley and
Chelsea at Turf Moor in Burnley on February 12, 2017(AFP)
But after weathering that pressure, the Clarets began to show why they have become so feared on their own turf.
Ashley
Barnes was presented with a couple of half-chances before the equaliser
and, soon after it, Andre Gray flashed an inviting low cross through
the Chelsea six-yard box.
Burnley should even have
taken a lead into the interval after Barton found full-back Matt
Lowton, who only had Thibaut Courtois to beat but was denied by a solid
block from the Chelsea goalkeeper.
The furious
tempo of the game continued after the restart, with a mistake by Matic
and an error by David Luiz culminating in Gray gathering Barnes's pass
and shooting straight at Courtois.
In response,
and thanks to a Ben Bee mistake at the other end, Diego Costa had a shot
blocked before Cesar Azpilicueta chanced his luck with a long-range
shot that just cleared the Burnley crossbar.
Burnley
substitute Scott Arfield was also guilty of a potentially costly error
when his weak clearance was picked up by Hazard, but the Chelsea man's
effort was hurried and well over.
Yet another
Chelsea attack ended in similar fashion a few minutes later with
substitute Cesc Fabregas slicing a shot hopelessly wide from the edge of
the penalty area.
Arfield almost twisted and
turned his way through on goal late on, but Luiz's challenge prevented
him from giving Burnley six successive home league victories for the
first time in 56 years.
"It was a strong performance against a top, top side," said Burnley manager Dyche.
"I want us to be awkward to play against and be productive and we showed that."
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