Swaggering Chelsea have their fear factor back

The Blues played superbly as they comfortably defeated newly-promoted Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Eden Hazard in simply sublime form on the left flank

Chelsea have their fear factor back.

For large swathes of last season Stamford Bridge became a house of horrors for the Blues, as they failed to win consecutive home matches throughout a 2015-16 campaign that ultimately saw them finish 10th. They were beaten by the likes of Crystal Palace, AFC Bournemouth and Southampton in their own backyard, the atmosphere soon turning poisonous as the club slipped down the table.

Antonio Conte, though, has come in and restored the pride in this Chelsea side, as well as the swaggering, cocksure confidence that comes with winning matches every week. Chelsea are starting to do that, and on Saturday they truly clicked, in superb fashion.

Conte has a reputation for moulding his teams quickly, for extracting absolute commitment out of every one of his players; already his ideas have taken hold in west London.

No longer are Chelsea leaden, ponderous and profligate; they have become breathtakingly quick on the break, superbly efficient in midfield and deadly in front of goal.

Eden Hazard, of all those to feature under Jose Mourinho in his toxic final season, has rescued his career from the doldrums. No longer is the Belgian unsure in the final third, apparently awaiting instruction from elsewhere. He is now back to his truly world-class best, scoring a quite sensational goal to open the scoring and remind supporters that he is perhaps the most likely Premier League player to match the superhuman abilities of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

His opener was a prime example. Collecting the ball in his own half Hazard crossed halfway, dropped a shoulder here, shimmied there, and found half a yard. Within a second he had fired, the ball barrelling past Tom Heaton and nestling in the bottom corner.

Conte must harness Hazard’s power throughout the season, he is undoubtedly the club’s best player and is nigh-on unstoppable when he plays as well as he did against the Clarets. He unleashed his full array of tricks, bewildering Matthew Lowton, Burnley's right-back, every time he received the ball, continually cutting inside to either test Heaton or play in a team-mate. The former Aston Villa defender's head must have been spinning come full-time.

Of course Chelsea will face bigger tests; matches against the two Manchester clubs will surely produce classic encounters, while Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal will all be out to halt their momentum.

But Chelsea will surely relish each challenge. Burnley were lambs to the slaughter, clearly drained after their somewhat heroic exertions in a shock 2-0 win over Liverpool last weekend. They could not pass the ball at all in the final third and were subsequently reduced to merely defending once they fell behind.

Chelsea were so much more precise, so much cleaner, as they launched wave after wave of attack to the delight of the home support.

The second came just before half-time, as Willian sent a fine low finish past Heaton after fine hold-up play from Diego Costa, who terrorised the visitors’ back-four. Substitute Victor Moses added a third late on, meeting Pedro's cross on the slide to wrap up a truly impressive victory.

Conte, who celebrated Willian’s goal wildly, conducted the orchestra from the sidelines, never ceasing his gesticulating for the entire 90 minutes. He knows what he wants and he will not hesitate to tell a player if he thinks they are not giving enough.

Branislav Ivanovic, for example, was reprimanded in the first-half after failing to overlap Willian on the right flank; the pair’s conversation took place as the ball was in play but, such was Chelsea’s dominance, it ultimately mattered little.

Ivanovic is perhaps the weak link in this Blues side; he is beaten too easily too often and has an alarming lack of pace on the turn, but if defensive reinforcements are signed in the final days of the transfer window – and Conte has said that he is looking, with a number of targets reportedly on his shortlist – this Chelsea team will be a frightening prospect indeed.

Given last season’s absolute crisis, Chelsea needed to hit the ground running in 2016-17. Following nervy wins over both West Ham and Watford they appear to have found a formula that can carry them to a Premier League title challenge.

If they continue to play as they did on Saturday then few will bet against them going all the way again.

Blunt Liverpool blow it at Burnley

The Reds dominated every area of the game, except the one which matters most - the scoreboard - as they were caught cold by Sean Dyche's well-drilled Clarets

Well before full-time, Jurgen Klopp’s face was as moody as the sombre sky that hung over Lancashire. With 81 per cent possession, 26 shots, 12 corners and 852 passes to Burnley’s 207, Liverpool were undone 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. 

From the riveting 4-3 victory over Arsenal last weekend, in which the Reds were unplayable for a 15-minute period after the second half, they depreciated to look like they had forgotten how to play against Sean Dyche’s side.

The discussion in the days preceding the encounter centered around the club’s problem position, with James Milner coming for the under-fire Alberto Moreno. Despite the alteration, it was as though Liverpool were left back on the bus in the opening spell at Turf Moor. 

The hosts were rapid, aggressive and positive from the first whistle, catching Klopp’s side cold. It worked with Sam Vokes putting them a goal to the good after just two minutes.

Nathaniel Clyne ceded possession and Andre Gray fed the Welshman, who turned superbly and stuck the ball in the top corner. The provider nearly turned scorer shortly afterwards too, but for a last-ditch intervention by Dejan Lovren.

Such a strong start from Burnley allowed them to gift Liverpool possession, stay compact and wait to profit on the counter. 

The Merseysiders planned to draw them out, but were not patient or surgical enough in their approach, leading to mistakes which Burnley were happy to exploit. 

One such error saw Steven Defour slice the the Reds open on the break before playing in Gray. The 25-year-old showed fine feet and composure to shift two markers and find the far corner. 

Jamie Carragher, sat on the broadcast table, was hounded by supporters after the celebration for the second as the ground transformed into a cauldron of noise.

The former Liverpool defender already seemed staggered by proceedings, before being taunted with shouts of ‘Jamie, Jamie, what’s the score?’

Between both goals - too easily gifted - Liverpool owned the ball, but struggled to use it effectively. The midfield, overloaded with numbers, lacked nous and inspiration.

Their inability to trouble the hosts in turn troubled them, leading to poor decision-making and no penetration.

“It’s not allowed that you suffer under your own ball possession, that makes no sense. It’s not that we didn’t want it – six or seven times Phil [Coutinho] alone was in the right position to shoot," explained Klopp.

“In England you use the word ‘clinical’ – in a lot of situations I saw we were clinical but even then we didn’t score. That’s how it is and we have to accept it.

“I will watch the game again and I am pretty sure I will not see a lot of surprises in this game, I saw everything. When we conceded the first goal, we had a lot of time to win the game.

“Even at half-time I felt there was still a possibility to do it. In the last moments, we were not where we should have been and that was a little bit of the problem, in the box, around the box.

“I saw crosses – really good crosses – when nobody was in the box. I saw shots when the whole box was full.

“Our timing and decision-making today was not really good. It might have been forced by the result and by the passion of the opponent, but it is how it is.”

Burnley were hardly ever uncomfortable in the clash, and were fully deserving of the victory having executed their gameplan to perfection. 

It was the absolute opposite for Liverpool, who knew what was required to get the better of the two banks of four, but had no answers for how to achieve it. 

“It was a difficult game for us. We lost the ball in the wrong moments, in open moments, counter-attack and counter-pressing," added Klopp. 

The Reds made mistakes in the worst possible situations, but the wake-up call perhaps comes at the perfect time. 

Falling short against a stacked defence has been a familiar theme for Liverpool, but Klopp has to make sure it becomes a thing of the past - and quick.