Premier League: Chelsea new boys show their quality
BURNLEY 1 CHELSEA 3
CHELSEA boss Jose Mourinho is confident new recruits Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas will prove the missing pieces of his jigsaw as the title favourites lived up to their billing by cruising to victory over top-flight new boys Burnley at Turf Moor last night.
Both debutants played a starring role with £32m man Costa cancelling out Scott Arfield’s early strike while Fabregas had a hand in first-half goals for World Cup winner Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic as Chelsea sealed maximum points.
The Blues have not lost their opening league fixture since a 2-1 loss at Coventry in 1998 and Mourinho is adamant that Costa – who was booked in the first-half for diving – and Fabregas showed they have the ability to elevate his side to a higher level.
“I always thought that Diego and Cesc would bring us to the dimension we want as they are different players to what we’ve had in the past,” said Mourinho.
“We needed that striker who can hold the ball and can have interaction with the other players and we needed a player that can dictate the intensity from the centre.
“Cesc was the maestro and controlled the tempo. He was the man who dictated the speed, the direction and the intensity of the game.
“Diego did something so important for us which was score the first goal, his movement was very good, although I feel sorry for him because it was a penalty and not a yellow card.”
Burnley opened the scoring in the 14th minute as former Huddersfield Town midfielder Arfield rifled a right-footed volley from the centre of the penalty area past a rooted Thibaut Courtois following Matt Taylor’s cross from the left.
The Burnley lead was short-lived and two minutes later Ivanovic’s low cross from the right side of the box struck the far post and rebounded invitingly for Costa to lash home.
Chelsea stormed into the lead on 21 minutes as Schurrle applied the finishing touch to a free-flowing move started by Eden Hazard’s mazy run, tucking past keeper Tom Heaton from the corner of the six-yard box after a defence-splitting pass from Fabregas.
The Stamford Bridge club made it three goals in 17 minutes when Ivanovic escaped the attentions of the Clarets defence to side-foot an inswinging Fabregas corner into the net from close range.
Arfield almost reduced the arrears shortly after the re-start only for his curling effort to be tipped behind by Courtois, who made his Chelsea debut three years after signing from Genk.
The returning Didier Drogba replaced Hazard late on and made his first Chelsea appearance since scoring the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
The selection of Belgium international Courtois appears to end Petr Cech’s 10-year grip on the gloves at Stamford Bridge, but Mourinho is keen for the experienced custodian to remain in the Chelsea ranks.
“I hope I can keep two of the three best goalkeepers in the world,” added Mourinho. “With the history he has at Chelsea he deserves every respect and the first respect is to say clearly that we want him to stay as we want two top goalkeepers.”