WHEN Scott Arfield fired home that wonderful volley to put us ahead on Monday night, it immediately reminded me of the last time we were in the Premier League.

On that occasion, Robbie Blake thundered home a stunning volley of his own as we famously went on to beat the mighty Manchester United.

Unfortunately, history was not to repeat itself and instead we got a harsh lesson about what to expect this time around.

While Blake’s goal put Burnley on their way to a memorable victory, all Arfield’s goal did was to stir Chelsea in to action.

There is a saying in football that you can score a goal too early and this was definitely one of those occasions!

But you have to remember that Jose Mourinho has assembled an excellent squad while Burnley’s is tipped by many for a quick return to the Championship.

Chelsea were superb in the first half and we were beaten by a far better side where, in my opinion, Eden Hazard was their stand-out player on the night.

We were overrun in that first period after Arfield, making his 50th appearance for Burnley, scored a goal he will remember forever.

In fairness, we did a lot better in the second half and it was important that we came out and continued to play although admittedly Chelsea did not really reach top gear again after the break.

Sean Dyche clearly had words with his players and he picked them up and got them playing with some confidence in that second half.

He threw on Ashley Barnes and Michael Kightly and I thought we played some very encouraging stuff.

This was always going to be a tough opener.

We got a lesson in keeping possession against arguably the best team in the Premier League – but let’s hope we have learnt a very valuable lesson for the season ahead.

Going back to the Chelsea goals, I think the first and third were defendable but the goal in between was top class.

There were 20-odd passes before Cesc Fabregas’ clever first time pass to Andre Schurrle left the Burnley defence flat footed.

I am sure the team have no doubts that they will have to step up another level to start picking up points but they have a manager who I believe in and I am sure he will take us forward to better days.