Burnley 1, Chelsea 1: Antonio Conte refuses to rise to Jose Mourinho barbs after Blues drop points
Burnley 1, Chelsea 1
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte refused to rise to barbs from predecessor Jose Mourinho after his team missed the chance to open up a 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
Winger Pedro’s seventh-minute goal looked to have set the Blues on course for a 16th win from their last 18 games, but club record signing Robbie Brady equalised for Burnley with a terrific curling free-kick.
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Chelsea then struggled to penetrate the hosts, who had the better chances, although Conte was in no mood to agree with Mourinho’s characterisation of his side as “a very defensive team”.
“I don’t like to reply about the other coaches,” Conte said. “I don’t like this joking. He is playing. I have the experience to understand this.”
Conte himself described Burnley’s tactics as defensive, although the Italian, whose team lead by 10 points with 13 games left, emphasised that he did not mean it as a criticism.
“The pitch is small and this is better for the team that has to defend and play this long ball,” he added.
“We put a lot of energy on the pitch today and we took only one point. We found a team that thought to disrupt our football, to play this long ball and to fight the second ball.
“We must be disappointed to take only one point. I have great respect for every type of football. I don’t like to judge the other. I have great respect for any team, for any manager, absolutely.”
Burnley boss Sean Dyche, whose team remain 12th and have taken 29 of their 30 points at Turf Moor, insisted he did not take offence at Conte’s remarks.
“I don’t know if it’s disrespectful,” he said. “He doesn’t know all the work we do on the training ground. He wouldn’t know the depth of all the analysis we use to get the players to perform.”
Pedro gave Chelsea an ideal start with his fifth goal in seven games, the Spaniard nimbly taking a Victor Moses pass in his stride and steering a low finish past Tom Heaton with his second touch.
Burnley regrouped and levelled in the 24th minute when £13m January signing Brady curled a free-kick over the visitors’ wall and past the despairing dive of Thibaut Courtois.
The Clarets had the better chances to take all three points but Courtois twice denied them, first when full-back Matt Lowton burst into the box and shot straight at him and then when striker Andre Gray applied a tame finish to an Ashley Barnes-led break.