SEAN Dyche felt his side deserved their opening day victory over champions Chelsea as he praised his players’ mentality in the heat of the battle.

The Blues saw Gary Cahill sent off early on before the Clarets raced into a 3-0 lead at the break, with Sam Vokes hitting a double and Stephen Ward scoring a sensational volley.

Chelsea fought back in the second with Alvaro Morata scoring shortly after coming on, before Cesc Fabregas was dismissed to leave the hosts down to nine men.

There was still time for more drama as David Luiz’s goal made for a nervy finale, but Burnley held out to claim all three points.

“Overall (we deserved it), they're a top class side, with fantastic individuals, and 3-0 down is not usual for them,” Dyche said.

“They had to respond, which they did, so credit to them, but we were disappointed with the two goals.

“Before that, we’d kept a good shape and I don't think they opened us up or made too many chances.

“But it's a big win, they're a fine side, even with 10 men.

“They opened up the pitch even more with 10 men, which put us on the back foot a little in the second half, but that's to be expected.

“But I'm really pleased with my players’ mentality.”

Cahill’s dismissal inside the first 15 minutes rocked Chelsea and the Clarets took advantage with a superb first-half display.

“The sending off makes a big difference,” Dyche said. “I haven't seen it but my staff said it was a correct decision.

“The referee was good, he had a really tough game but handled it well overall.

“But that obviously changes it. That said, how do you respond to it? And we responded very well.

“We didn't lose our shape, we did the basics well, kept it simple, kept the ball simply, created enough chances and took them.

“Second half, do we keep going or try to contain? We tried to contain - not easy.

“They scored two, had a couple of maybes, we hit the post at the death, but overall, I think everyone would think we deserved it, I certainly did, that's for sure.”

It was an occasionally bad tempered clash at Stamford Bridge, with the Chelsea bench regularly up in arms at decisions they perceived as going against them, but Dyche played down any conflict, insisting it’s an ‘emotional sport’.

The victory was Burnley’s first on the opening day of the top flight in 44 years, and it comes after they had to wait until their 18th away game to record a first success on the road last season.

“Three years ago, it was a story getting a win, the away win was a story last year, and it kills all that off,” Dyche said.

“But we’re not getting carried away, it's a great result, brilliant for our players and supporters, but we know there's a big season ahead of us, and everyone is telling us it's a big challenge.

“We keep moving it forward, now can we move it forward again?

“It's difficult at this club to make massive strides, it's about shifting it forward, and this won't do us any harm at all.”