Burnley manager Sean Dyche has hit back at Chelsea defender David Luiz after the Brazilian claimed that the Clarets were guilty of anti-football during the 2-2 draw between the teams on Monday. The result would have been frustrating to the Blues even though it left them in fourth place on the standings and in contention to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
As quoted by The Lancashire Telegraph, Dyche said: “Well, with a £58m wage bill, and making the most of players and trying to find a way to get 40 points in the Premier League, coming to venues like this, I’m pretty pleased to be fair, and delighted with the players,”
“They’ve been first class, 28 points in 16 games, you can’t anti-football that. I’m telling you now, it’s impossible, you have to play some football to get 28 points in 16 games.”
The Blues would have had a perfect opportunity to capitalize after Arsenal fell to a shock 3-1 defeat against high-flyers Wolves on Wednesday. This result means that Maurizio Sarri’s side are still neck in neck in the race with Arsenal to secure a top-four finish.
The result for Burnley meant that they are in all probability safe from relegation this season. Jeff Hendrik scored to give the Clarets the lead during the game before N’Golo Kante scored to level matters. Gonzalo Higuain went on to give the West London giants the lead before Ashley Barnes equalized during the 24th minute.
The defensive tactics that Burnley employed during the game were indicative that they were content to draw the game. Their goalkeeper Tom Heaton was after all booked after just 30 minutes for time-wasting. It is indeed very rare for players to be booked for time wasting during the first half of a game.
