League leaders Chelsea endured a rare slip up as a late Matej Vydra strike saw struggling Burnley snatch a point at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Manchester City’s convincing win over rivals Manchester United earlier in the day had reduced the gap at the top of the table to just two points heading into the game, although there appeared to be no sign of title race nerves as the Blues dominated proceedings against Sean Dyche’s men.
That dominance eventually lead to a breakthrough just after the half-hour mark as stand-in centre forward Kai Havertz put the hosts ahead, the Germany international heading home after an excellent whipped cross from man of the moment Reece James.
If not for the form of visiting stopper Nick Pope, Thomas Tuchel’s side would likely have had a more commanding lead heading in at the break, with the Englishman making a string of fine first-half saves.
The hosts continued to create chances after the interval yet couldn’t find that much needed second, with both Thiago Silva and goalscorer Havertz going close, while Callum Hudson-Odoi also saw his effort scrambled off the line.
Despite having been totally outplayed, the away side somehow found themselves level against the run of play with what was their first shot on target, former Watford striker Vydra nodding home from close range after a clever knock down by Jay Rodriguez.
With just ten minutes left to play following that well-worked goal, there proved to be no late winner for the home side as they were forced to settle for a point, extending their lead at the top to three points, albeit with Liverpool still to play on Sunday.
Speaking after the draw, Tuchel was full of praise for his side’s performance, although was understandably ‘disappointed’ not to have taken all three points after creating ‘so many chances’ on the day.
“It was a fantastic 90 minutes when you look at performance. It can only happen in football,” Tuchel told BBC Sport.
“That’s why everyone loves the game – a team can steal a point if the other team forgets to score the goals they deserve.
“We did a fantastic match.
“Of course I’m disappointed. If we played this game 100 times, we’d win 99 times. Today we didn’t win it. The second goal would have decided it. It’s always possible you miss one ball, one cross, and this can happen.
“It’s our fault. We should have scored. We created so many chances.
“You have the opponent where you want to have them. You create so many chances. We let them believe it was possible to steal a point by pure luck and that’s what happened.
“This is not the first game like this and won’t be the last. I was impressed by the performance, the attitude, the quality. It’s football, it was against us today.
“We were sharp from the first minute to the very end.
“You know this can happen. In real life these things happen. We are in a good place. We deserved more today. On another game we maybe get lucky and steal some points.”
With the international break to come, Chelsea are not in action again until they take on Leicester City on Saturday 20 November.
