Why Chelsea have ‘set fire’ to 17 points from winning positions at Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge has become a theatre of self-immolation for Chelsea this season, and the latest act arrived in the 93rd minute on Saturday when Zian Flemming rose unmarked to head Burnley’s equaliser past Robert Sanchez. The goal, nodded in from James Ward-Prowse’s corner, turned what should have been a routine 1-0 win—gifted by Joao Pedro’s fourth-minute strike—into a 1-1 draw that felt both shocking and entirely familiar. It also pushed Chelsea’s tally of points dropped from winning positions at home to 17, the heaviest such toll in the Premier League.

Head coach Liam Rosenior, appointed to halt the slide, did not spare his players. “We have set fire to four points from two home games,” he said, the embers still glowing in the west-London night. “Anyone watching the game, it’s not good enough for a club of this level.”

The turning point arrived in the 72nd minute when Wesley Fofana, already booked for a cynical foul on Hannibal Mejbri, lunged late at Ward-Prowse and collected a second yellow. It was Chelsea’s sixth red card of the league campaign—equalling a club record with 11 matches remaining—and the sixth different player to receive one, underscoring a collective brittleness rather than individual villainy. Seven of the 19 points surrendered from winning positions have come after going down to ten men.

Fofana’s first caution had been symptomatic: Hannibal was allowed to carry the ball half the length of the pitch, bypassing a passive midfield that had been lulled into sideways and backwards passing after the early goal. Rosenior wants “wave after wave of attack”; what he got was a slow retreat.

Even the tactical response to the dismissal appeared to backfire. Cole Palmer, the side’s most inventive attacker, was withdrawn for defender Tosin Adarabioyo, a switch that invited Burnley pressure and, ultimately, the set-piece siege that produced Flemming’s leveller. Scott Parker admitted his own late substitutions were a direct reaction to Rosenior’s conservatism, a chess move that ended with two Ward-Prowse corners and a near-miss from Jacob Bruun Larsen in the dying seconds.

Rosenior refused to scapegoat Fofana, who later became the target of racist abuse online, a development condemned by both club and league. “That wasn’t on Wesley,” he said. “That was on our performance.” Instead, he questioned the squad’s mentality, demanding “players who you can rely on in the moment to do their job” and vowing to reassess who can be trusted when momentum swings.

Youth is often cited—Chelsea’s squad is among the youngest in the division—but the coach dismissed it as mitigation. “Youth is one thing, accountability is another,” he insisted. “The best teams win games 1-0 when they haven’t had the best performance. Even with ten men for 25 minutes, that should have been 1-0 at the least.”

The numbers are stark: 17 points dropped at home from winning positions, a league-high, and a defensive record on set plays that Rosenior admits “is not to the level required.” With 11 games left and an average opponent league position of 8.4, the run-in offers little respite, especially with Champions League and FA Cup commitments looming.

Chelsea entered the weekend believing a rare free week spent in Dubai sun had refreshed legs and minds. Instead, the same old frailties surfaced: lax marking, panicked clearances, and a late concession that turned cheers to boos. If the club misses out on one of five possible Champions League places, this latest self-inflicted wound may be the one that scars deepest.

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