Burnley are one of the oldest clubs in the Football Association. In 1888-89, when the Football League was formed, they were one of the 12 founding members. As old as Burnley itself is, so is Turf Moor where the club have played since 1883. These are years you only find in history books, and Burnley do have history. Along with Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Wolves and Preston, they are the only clubs to have won every Division in England's Football League Pyramid. They have an FA Cup win from 1915 as well.
Sean Dyche is maybe the man most associated with Burnley in the Premier League, but the 'Ginger Mourinho' was not the first manager to get Burnley promoted, in 2009 they came up under Owen Coyle. Coyle, however, decided to jump ship to Bolton Wanderers in January and Burnley went down. Dyche would take over in 2012 and guide the club back to the Premier league in 2015.
After immediately going down Dyche would guide them back up again as winners of the Championship. They stayed in the Premier League for 6 years till Dyche could not work his magic anymore. He was gone before Burnley were from the Premier League, but Vincent Kompany took over and brought them back up again just like Dyche did, instantly and as Championship winners.
While they did go down under the Belgian - he moved on to coach a fierce Bayern Munich side - ex Chelsea man Scott Parker would repeat the achievements of Kompany and Dyche, Burnley returned to the Premier League this year after one year in the Championship with 100 points, not enough to win the title though.
Overall Record : W12 - D5 - L1
Key Statistics
Chelsea Overall Points Per Game (2.28, 2nd)
Chelsea Overall Goals per Game (2.56, 1st)
Chelsea Away Points Per Game (2.78, 1st)
Chelsea Away Goals Per Game (3.00, 1st)
Chelsea Away Losses (0, =1st)
Chelsea Overall Losses (1, 1st)
These are some flowery stats. It's safe to say 'Away at Turf Moor' is our favourite fixture. We've not lost there in 9 visits, a solitary 1-1 draw coming in Conte's title winning season. We average 3 goals a game at Turf Moor and have scored more per game against the Clarets than any other team in the League. Remember Cesc's pass to Schurrle on his debut?
.@cesc4official and @Andre_Schuerrle combining for a superb Chelsea goal at Burnley! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/K3yMYh80Nr
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 30, 2020
Conte's 2nd season started with us playing Burnley at home. Our proud record of being unbeaten on Opening Day would fall in a crazy game where the Clarets went 3-0 up in the First half after Gary Cahill was sent off within 15 minutes. The 10 men rallied but a late David Luiz goal was barely consolatory as Cesc Fabregas also received his marching orders late on. This remains our only loss to the Clarets.
While we have our highest Goals per Game ratio against them, we have never scored more than 4 goals in a game. We've even scored in every such meeting in the League. 6 years ago, would you believe it, Christian Pulisic scored a perfect hat-trick as we won 4-2 at Turf Moor. We've scored 4 times in our last two visits as well, but our last 2 meetings at home have been draws. In March last year, a Cole Palmer double saw us finish 2-2, but we had created an incredible 4.2 xG in that game to Burnley's 1.6. Palmer had scored his first Chelsea goal against the Clarets the previous October.
They Played for Both
It's that man Gary Cahill Again! While a Villa player, Cahill went on a season-long loan at Turf Moor in 2005, joining Chelsea 7 years later and becoming European Champion. No other players played for Burnley before joining the Blues. A number went the other way though!
We had high hopes from Slough-born Armando Broja. The Albanian only scored 3 times for Chelsea before joining the Clarets this past summer. Lesley Ugochukwu also moved to Turf Moor from Stamford Bridge and he has been an important cog of their midfield. Danny Drinkwater and Ian Maatsen were players Chelsea sent on loan to Burnley when they were in the Championship, for completely opposing reasons.
Universally loved Frank Sinclair was an important part of the Chelsea squad when the Premier League was in its infancy, playing over 3,000 minutes in defence in our first 3 seasons. After falling out of favour, he left to have 6 seasons in Leicester before 3 years playing for Burnley in the Championship. Some fond memories there from the London-born Jamaican, who won an FA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup with us.
Next up, the high flying Eagles of Crystal Palace!
