As Chelsea prepare to face Burnley live on Sky Sports in Burnley on Thursday, we recall the opening day of their defeat Sean DIC side at Stamford bridge to set the tone for their Premier League title defence.
The 3-2 loss in which Chelsea conceded three first half goals by Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas deleted side saw Antonio Conte became only the second champion in the history of the Premier League to lose their opening match of the campaign.
Nine months from the fifth Chelsea in the standings and 27 points behind Champions Manchester city, here’s how issues, obviously, on the opening day undermined his campaign…
Transmission trouble
Season amid tensions between Conte and the Board. Chelsea John Terry was allowed to leave and sold Nemanja MATIC in the “Manchester United” – “Conte”, describing the latter as “large losses” in an interview with Sky Sports while in the previous season, striker Diego Costa was expelled from the squad.
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April 19, 2018, 7:30 PM
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Conte felt Chelsea did not offer him sufficient support in the transfer market, and he made his disappointment clear with his team selection against Burnley, calling Jeremie God in the starting lineup and fellow youngsters Fikayo Tomori, Charles Musonda, Kennedy and Kyle Scott in the number of spare.
Conte already missed out on Romelu Lukaku, who chose “Manchester United” and “Chelsea” would also prove, was defeated in his try to sign Alex oxlade-Chamberlain from Arsenal’s Alex Sandro in Milan and Fernando Llorente from Swansea.
Priority goals would not come and those who can’t improve the squad. Alvaro Morata was unable to fill the void Costa, scoring just 11 goals in the Premier League so far, while other summer signing Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, on time and Danny Drinkwater are all fighting.
Olivier Giroud struck the patches since his arrival in January from Arsenal, scoring a goal in a match-winning brace in Chelsea’s 3-2 victory over Southampton at the weekend, but Chelsea and other mid-season signings, Ross Barkley and Emerson Palmieri, played just 69 minutes of Premier League between them.
Misconduct
Conte has accused his players of “losing his head” after the Burnley game, with Cahill – bearing 2016/17 victory – seeing red for reckless lunge on Steven Defour after 14 minutes, and Fabregas received a second yellow for a foul at the end of Jack cork in the end.
Conte noted that “Chelsea” was also shown red cards in the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal at the end of last season and the community shield losing team a week earlier, adding: “I have to learn entities with 10 and nine players, because when this happens regularly, you should be concerned about.”
Conte was right when he worried. Ill-discipline has become an urgent topic of the season “Chelsea”. The Blues only got two red cards last season – none of which came in the Premier League, but they are already up to seven in the current campaign. This is more than any other team in the Premier League and contributed to the chaos surrounding the season.
Problems in defense
Three Chelsea Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Cahill is fundamental to their success last season, but defeat against Burnley in August revealed a new Vulnerability, as they became the first Champions in Premier League history to concede three or more goals on the opening day.
Cahill sending it set the tone for a disappointing season in which he lost his place in the England squad, while David Luiz, who was named the next Cahill in the team 2016/17 APF, has also experienced a stormy day. The Brazil defender was at fault for the first and third goal “Burnley”, failing to pick up Sam Vokes from conventional crosses.
It was the beginning of the end for Louis Conte. He retained his place in the side for the first week of the season, but since fell to Andreas Christensen in Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over the “Manchester United” in November, it was made only one Premier League with a knee injury, adding to its difficulties.
Christensen was impressed, for the most part, but with their new look on defense, Chelsea has violated as many times as all of last season. Problems that was evident against Burnley continued throughout the entire campaign.
Striker question
The Burnley game also hinted at the problems Chelsea at the top of the field. With Morata still not up to speed and Costa is frozen, Michy Batshuayi has been selected to start. The Belgian struggled in trying to convince Conte last season, and this subject was continued at Stamford bridge on the opening day.
Batshuayi was withdrawn on the hour-mark after a bad display, and it will only start two more games in the Premier League before leaving on loan to Borussia Dortmund in the middle of the campaign. His substitutions against Burnley, Morata, said debut with a goal and scored six of his next six matches, but he struggled for consistency since then.
In the Spanish national team went three months without a goal in the Premier League between December and April, with Chelsea forced to dip back into the transfer market for Giroud in January. The France striker secured a vital goals at the stadium St. Mary’s on Saturday, but since the opening to now, the impression remains that the attack is weaker than Chelsea without Costa.
To watch Burnley V Chelsea live on sky sports Premier League 7.30 PM on Thursday
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