Burnley boss Sean Dyche admits ‘the better side won’ after his team were defeated by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Despite heading to West London on the back of three straight wins in all competitions, the Clarets were second best for much of the 90 minutes against Thomas Tuchel’s men.

Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso were on target for the Blues, while the 2-0 defeat also saw Burnley striker Chris Wood taken off due to injury.

Speaking after the game, Dyche said: “I’ve no complaints because the best side won.

“In the first half, I thought we contained the game pretty well and kept them to a pretty slow tempo. They had a few chances, but stuff we are used to dealing with. But in the second half they were by far the better side and that happens.

“When you play the better sides and they turn up, as Chelsea did with a new manager, four changes and everyone playing with a bit more fizz, then it’s hard. They brought a better tempo to their passing and their pressing and we couldn’t get a foothold at all, to be honest. All credit to them, it was top players doing what top players do to win a game.”

Dyche added: “The only gripe for me is that we had a couple of players who were below par, especially in the first half, and even though the two centre-backs and Matt Lowton were excellent, without doubt the best side won on the day.

“Sometimes you forget there is a vast gap of millions of pounds when you look at the two teams on a piece of paper, and that does pay you back eventually over a season. Not always, of course, because we have just shown at Liverpool that we can compete in our own style, but it’s very difficult when these teams turn up.

“That’s the difference. They really turned up in the second half.”

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