TOWSON, Maryland, Saturday, August 12, 2017 - Unless you actually saw it, you might not believe it. At legendary Stamford Bridge, a raucous opening day crowd sat in stunned amazement as visiting and unheralded Burnley raced to a 3-0 lead at the half, then beat back a determined Chelsea rally to defeat the defending Premier League Champs, 3-2.
Sam Vokes scored twice and Ben Mee and Tom Heaton anchored a gritty Claret defense against the Blues, which despite playing short-handed almost from the start of the match, came storming back after halftime. Although the home team got close, Burnley never faltered or showed panic, as time and again Mee and company blocked shots by Chelsea's high-powered, highly paid offensive players. And even when a shot made it through the Claret defense, Heaton was equal to the task, stopping several shots that looked like sure goals.
You could argue that this is one of Burnley's greatest wins.
Vokes opened the scoring before a flustered Stamford Bridge gathering of 41,616 fans, scoring at the 24 minute mark after a wonderful pass from Matthew Lowton. It was a sequence that started innocently enough with a goal kick by Heaton.
Some 15 minutes later, it was Stephen Ward who launched a powerful shot that was past the Chelsea Keeper, Thibaut Courtois, before he knew what hit him.
Now the scoreboard read 2-0 in favor of the Claret. The extremely bad news for the Blues, however, was the fact that Burnley wasn't finished.
Four minutes later - just a couple of minutes before halftime - Vokes scored again, this time on an acrobatic header that Courtois never had a chance to save. The coach of the Blues, Antonio Conte, was so frustrated that he got himself into a spat with Burnley Coach Sean Dyche.
In truth, Chelsea was in huge trouble right from the start of this match. After just 14 minutes, Stephen Cahill, playing for the first time as the Blues' Captain, received a red card. Chelsea would play all but the final ten minutes one man short. Why the final ten minutes? Because after that mark, Chelsea played two men short because Cesc Fàbregas took a second yellow card and was sent off. Yet Chelsea was gamely even after that staggering set back.
Burnley opened the second half playing defense. Chelsea seemed to still be trying to find their game faces. This continued for the longest time, far too long if you're a Blues' fan. The Blues will forever own the name plate of the first top flight squad to surrender three goals in the first game of their title defense.
Chelsea finally got one past Heaton with 20 minutes left. Alvaro Morata broke past the defense and left Heaton without help or hope. But it was pretty much an isolated event. And, you know, ticket prices being what they are, the Claret may have felt it was appropriate to accommodate the Stamford Bridge gathering to this slight extent. It was for Morata - the big money summer signee - the very first Premier League score. David Luiz then scored the second goal for the Blues, but by then there was but two minutes left in regulation. Seconds after the Luiz goal, Vokes shocked the crowd with another strong and completely unexpected effort. Right off of the kickoff, Vokes, marked by two smothering Chelsea defenders, got himself taken down right at the 18. Or was it just inside the 18? The official ruled it was just barely - more or less - outside the box.
Sort of.
The resulting free kick was taken by Robby Brady and it was a beauty, slicing through the Blues' wall and banging hard off the inside - the inside! - of the post to Courtois' right. The rebound came right back to Brady - as the ball again sliced through the human Chelsea Wall - and he one-touched a bullet that, this time, managed to smash into a stationary Blues' defender. Funny thing about soccer - or football as "they" refer to it across the pond - the entire episode with the free kick was instrumental to Burnley's fortunes. The pace of the game slowed noticeably after the kick, even though Chelsea was still only one score behind Burnley.
Chelsea did get the ball back down the field one last time, but were unable to muster a shot as the four minutes of add on finally was whistled to a close. Now, a gleeful and delighted Dyche clapped his hands and flashed a wide smile as he walked on to the field to greet his players. It was reported that Burnley hadn't gained a win at Chelsea since 1973. Folks, that's 44 years.
Unbelievable!
Granted, this is merely one match with many many more to follow. But even soccer addicts like the English are positively taken aback by this result. The Claret lost two of their very best players from last year's squad. Plus, they are on the road and coming off the ugly mess that was last week's final preseason friendly. You would never have known it. Burnley took it too the champs in the first half. Respect for Sam Vokes grew tenfold in this match. Vokes did not play like a man possessed. Instead, he seemed a confident lad who knew exactly what he was doing and fully expected to succeed in this task. And he did succeed. Oh yes he did! Even with all of the extra attention he was getting from the Blues, Vokes was not stopped.
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