Chelsea vs Burnley: Pundits criticise Sarri’s squad choices
Shortly after a melee involving midfielder Mateo Kovacic, Sarri remonstrated with the fourth official.
And the Italian was swiftly given his marching orders as the Blues failed to capitalise after all their rivals lost over the weekend.
Their anger boiled over again after the final whistle as Antonio Rudiger appeared to get involved in a scuffle with someone from the Burnley backroom staff.
Chelsea had fallen behind after Jeff Hendrick struck a sweet volley past Kepa Arrizabalaga in the eighth minute.
Sarri’s side responded magnificently with N’Golo Kante sweeping home Eden Hazard’s cut-back with his left foot just four minutes after going behind.
They were in front two minutes later as Gonzalo Higuain hit a rasping drive past Tom Heaton that hit the crossbar before bouncing into the back of the net.
However, Ashley Barnes turned home on 24 minutes to give the Clarets a draw at Stamford Bridge.
Maurizio Sarri was sent off as Chelsea drew with Burnley (Image: GETTY)
Sarri was given his marching orders after remonstrating with the fourth official (Image: GETTY)
Antonio Rudiger was involved in a bust-up after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge (Image: SKY SPORTS)
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Rudiger was clearly angered by something after the match (Image: SKY SPORTS)
A point keeps them fourth but they missed the chance to leapfrog Spurs into third and put some distance between them and Arsenal in fourth.
David Luiz admitted the players were disappointed and hit out at Burnley for their negative style.
"We tried everything to win the game,” he said. ”It's difficult when you play against a team who have two chances and score two goals and didn't want to play the game.
"It's anti-football. Losing time [time wasting] all the time, especially when you have the ball.
Jeff Hendrick's fine volley put Burnley in front (Image: GETTY)
N'Golo Kante equalised for Chelsea (Image: GETTY)
“Their players went to the floor and stopped the game.
"They were playing 11 inside the box. It's difficult to score against a team like that."
Assistant manager Gianfranco Zola spoke in place of Sarri after the game and revealed emotions got the better of them in a heated clash.
"Well I think there was a lot of emotion," Zola said. "He [Sarri] was really unhappy with a couple of situations on the pitch. He was unhappy with why he’s been sent off, he just went down the line to tell the players to get on with the game.
Gonzalo Higuain put Chelsea in front with a rasping drive (Image: GETTY)
"He’s been misunderstood by Kevin Friend. I’m unhappy about that, he’s unhappy about that. That’s why I’m here."
Asked if Sarri had been warned prior to being sent off, Zola added: "No actually. When he’s on the touchline he moves around a lot. He’s very emotional. Sometimes he comes out. Today he didn’t come out too much. When he went there Kevin misinterpreted what he wanted to do. We just wanted to calm our players down. He was trying to help him."
Meanwhile, Burnley have reached the magic 40-point mark and the draw practically guarantees their Premier League status.
Boss Sean Dyche was clearly delighted with a point and insists he had no idea what sparked the scenes at the end of the match.
He said: ”I don’t know what you’re allowed to say anymore, handbags, manbags, some kind of bags – I didn’t see much of it, I was out clapping our fans who have been tremendous."