BURNLEY got their Premier League campaign off to a flying start as they stunned champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Clarets landed a first opening day win in the top flight since 1973 in some style, beating Antonio Conte’s side 3-2 in a bad tempered clash.

Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas both saw red for an ill-disciplined Chelsea side, the latter in the final 10 minutes when the damage had already been done by an inspired Burnley side.

After Cahill’s early dismissal the Clarets raced into a 3-0 lead at the break thanks to Sam Vokes’ double and Stephen Ward’s screamer.

Alvaro Morata briefly made things nervous as the champions tried to rally after the break, and despite being down to nine men David Luiz cut the deficit even further two minutes from time.

But Burnley held on to claim all three points on a memorable afternoon in West London.

Marcos Alonso should have seen red inside the first five minutes for a reckless lunge on Matt Lowton. He escaped with yellow and from Robbie Brady’s deep free-kick Ben Mee’s header was straight at Thibaut Courtois.

On 13 minutes the Blues were down to 10 and it was former Burnley loanee Cahill who was given his marching orders. He stepped out of defence with the ball and drove forward but a heavy touch saw him lunge into Steven Defour. Craig Pawson was quick to draw out his red card, deeming Cahill’s studs-up tackle as reckless.

The decision had left Stamford Bridge raging and their mood soured further when the Clarets took a deserved lead midway through the half. Defour had room in the centre of the pitch and spread the ball wide to Lowton and his cross from deep was brilliantly flicked home from 12 yards by Vokes.

The Clarets were looking comfortable at the back with a one goal advantage and in the space of four minutes towards the end of the first half they stunned the champions.

First Jack Cork collected a ball infield from Ward and clipped it back to him as the Ireland man advanced into the area, holding off a challenge before unleashing an unstoppable angled volley into the back of the net.

And then two minutes before the break Defour marched forward from a short free-kick and curled in a perfect ball for Vokes to power a header past Courtois and sent the travelling Clarets into dreamland.

It wasn’t until a couple of minutes into the second half that Tom Heaton was finally called into action, tipping over Alonso’s 25-yard drive.

It was the same combination in the action again on the hour with Heaton producing a more spectacular save to tip Alonso’s 25-yard free-kick over the bar.

Chelsea had improved after the break and they got a goal back midway through the half. Willian was the architect, creating space on the right to clip in a cross and £70million man Morata, on as a second half substitute, glanced home his cross after peeling off the back of James Tarkowski.

The lead could have been further reduced when Andreas Christensen beat Heaton from a tight angle but Morata needlessly tapped it in from a yard and was rightly flagged offside.

With just under 10 minutes to go Fabregas saw red after collecting a second yellow, leaving Chelsea down to nine.

The Blues again protested to the beleaguered Pawson, who had enjoyed a good afternoon with the whistle, but Fabregas could have little complaint for a poor tackle on Cork after the ball had gone.

Even down to nine Chelsea managed to make it nervy for the Clarets as Luiz fired a volley past Heaton after latching on to Morata’s flick on from Cesar Azpilicueta's long ball.

The Clarets almost made it save a minute later when Brady’s 20-yard free-kick hit the post, but they managed to hold on through four minutes of stoppage time to begin the season with a stunning victory.