Burnley profit as Chelsea lose the cool

Chelsea 1 Burnley 1: Sometimes, it is best to count to 10 and walk away, Jose.

Certainly Nemanja Matic learnt that lesson the hard way, seeing red for seeing red in the 69th minute, when he reacted to Ashley Barnes planting his studs on his shin by violently shoving the Burnley striker to the ground.

Matic will now miss three games, starting with the Capital One Cup final against Tottenham next Sunday, while Barnes may face retrospective action from the FA.

And Mourinho may also face more action from English football’s governing body after his post-match comments and extraordinary outburst on Sky Sports yesterday reinforced his view that a ‘campaign’ is being waged against Chelsea by a combination of officials, opposition and media.

“The referee made four mistakes, and it should have been 3-0 to us at half-time against 10 men,” he said. The inference was clear — bad refereeing cost Chelsea maximum points, as Mourinho claimed it has repeatedly this season.

What he failed to mention, however, were incidents in the 5th, 53rd, 55th, 56th and 78th minutes, when Chelsea failed to turn good openings into goals, either missing the target or being foiled by Burnley keeper Michael Heaton.

Although Mourinho spoke repeatedly about Barnes, calling his challenge on Matic “criminal”, he neglected to mention three outstanding saves that Thibault Courtois had to make to keep the Burnley striker out, or the wayward shot from the usually lethal Danny Ings in stoppage time that would have given the Clarets an unlikely victory. As it was, Sean Dyche’s men got the draw they deserved because Branislav Ivanovic’s opening goal was equalised in the 81st minute, when Mourinho delayed the introduction of substitute Gary Cahill at a corner, so that Burnley left-back Ben Mee was unchallenged as he headed the ball past Courtois. Was that the referee’s fault, too, Jose?

Dyche sympathised with ref Atkinson and insists the draw was the fairest outcome.

“If a decision went our way, c’est la vie. Over the season you hope that it balances out. It doesn’t always, but that’s the hope.”

After Mourinho’s rant, it was refreshing to hear his compatriot Felipe Luis give a sense of perspective.

“They (Burnley) knew how to play this game and we have to congratulate them,” said the left-back. “I don’t believe in luck and I don’t want to talk about the referee. We had chances to win the game, we played a lot better than them and created a lot of chances. We have to improve. We cant afford to lose points at home.”

CHELSEA: Courtois 7; Ivanovic 7, Zouma 6, Terry 6, Luis 7 (Drogba (83); Matic 6, Fabregas 6; Cuedrado 6 (Willian 63), Oscar 6 (Ramires 71), Hazard 8; Costa 6

BURNLEY: Heaton 7; Trippier 7, Shackell 7, Keane 6, Mee 7; Boyd 7, Jones 5 Arfield 6, Kightly 6 (Vokes 79); Barnes 7 Ings 6.

Referee: M Atkinson