Burnley — This week could reveal a lot about what is realistic chelsea In this weather. both in the next seven days barcelona And armory Visit Stamford Bridge for games that will either showcase their ability to go toe-to-toe with the best in the world or highlight the flaws in a team that is still a work in progress.
In that sense, Saturday’s early kickoff burnley At first, me Premier League The decision to return after the international break was more one of navigating safely than making a statement.
It wasn’t pretty, but they did what they had to do. target from pedro neto And Enzo Fernandez They won 2-0 and quietly – at least for a few hours – Enzo Maresca’s team moved into second place in the Premier League table.
Can they keep pace with Arsenal and Manchester City This will be revealed when they face Mikel Arteta’s leaders next Sunday. That said, any team with vague title ambitions has to win tough games against newly promoted teams and this was a test that Chelsea was able to overcome.
“It was a difficult game for many reasons,” Maresca, who is taking charge of Chelsea in the Premier League for the 50th time, said afterwards. “It’s tough after the international break, 12.30pm, Burnley away, it’s always a tough game. But I’m very happy with the way we competed. It’s very tough to come here and not lose.”
It was a day that didn’t reveal much about Chelsea that we didn’t already know. They missed a key defensive midfielder Moises CaicedoWho was named on the bench due to long journey Ecuador Last week, and in his absence, Burnley started the game well.
This moment of friendly fire was almost disastrous for Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/93jYwCj76C
– NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) 22 November 2025
The most remarkable thing Chelsea did in the opening 30 minutes was a comical period of play which saw the goalkeeper robert sanchez He delivered a kick with his hand straight to the back of Fernandez’s head. But even when the football isn’t flowing, the individual quality is still there – and that’s without cole palmer,
mark cucurella Breaking into midfield from the left had caused Burnley problems all afternoon and it was his deep runs that led to the opening goal. The ball was worked back to the winger jamie gittensJoe was calm up to that point, and his pinpoint cross towards the back post was met by Neto.
It was the seventh header goal scored by Chelsea this season, joint-most with Arsenal and only West Ham. Manchester United Has conceded more header goals than Burnley’s five. Burnley boss Scott Parker doesn’t need any reminders about how tough life is in the Premier League, but this was another lesson in how tough it is at this level.
“Overall, I feel like I’m pretty happy with the performance,” Parker said after his third consecutive loss. “In the first half, I thought we were brilliant. Maybe needed to take one of those half-chances as the momentum changed a bit in the second half.
“Overall I’m happy, but I’m putting that mildly because obviously we’re disappointed. You’re playing against high quality players and for most of them we managed it really well. They were clinical.”
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Burnley played well and created enough chances to score at least once; Parker had to regret one particular shot of the target that fell gian flemingAnd as he left the post-match press conference, the Burnley boss revealed he would spend his Saturday night at home in front of his laptop trying to work out where things went wrong,
Chelsea, simply, created more of their chances.
With the game at 1–0 and the Turf Moor crowd becoming more involved, a frantic finish was dashed when Fernandez made it 2–0 two minutes from time. This was a reward for diligent performance on his part argentina The international, who had his hands full without Caicedo.
The move started with a risky pass out from Sanchez, but it was no surprise that it also included Neto, Chelsea’s best player on the day.
“It was very important to keep the momentum going before the international break,” Maresca said. “Now we will regain our energy and move towards Tuesday [against Barcelona]We are confident, We are confident because we are doing well, We could have done many things better today, that’s for sure, “We will prepare well for Tuesday and Sunday,”
In many ways it was the perfect start to an important week. A win and a clean sheet; Caicedo rested well; Reece James’ fitness was managed 45 minutes before the previously planned substitution; Neto is stepping in to replace Palmer as the creative hub.
After defeating Burnley, matches against Barcelona and Arsenal provide a platform for Chelsea to show that they are serious this season.
On a losing streak of 10 games in all competitions, Maresca insisted there is still room for improvement and more to come. We might be about to find out if he’s right.
