After a week of titanic tussles against Liverpool and Luton in the cups, Chelsea were slow out of the blocks at Turf Moor, and it was Sean Dyche’s men who had all of the best openings in a cagey first half in East Lancashire. Aaron Lennon’s pull-back picked out Wout Weghorst, but the Dutchman would have to wait for a first strike on home soil, as Thiago Silva rescued his side with a goal-line clearance. The ‘Clarets’ maintained their pressure and it forced an error from Edouard Mendy, as the goalkeeper dropped a cross at the feet of Dwight McNeil, but the winger inexplicably failed to hit the target.
Thomas Tuchel’s HT team talk clearly had a profound effect on his side, as they absolutely steamrolled the hosts, scoring three times in the opening ten minutes of the second period. Reece James started the goal glut, slotting in a clinical finish after being allowed far too much space inside the box. Kai Havertz was the next to find the back of the net, as the German peeled off his marker at the back post to nod in a Christian Pulisic cross. James then turned provider for the third strike, picking out Havertz for a tap-in with a pinpoint low cross, leaving Turf Moor in stunned silence.
Chelsea were not willing to put the handbrake on, adding a fourth after a big mistake from James Tarkowski. The centre-back stretched to intercept a cross from the left, but inadvertently handed Pulisic a tap-in. A dominant victory serves as a statement of intent for Chelsea, who have now won three successive league games for the first time since October, as they bid to lock out the Premier League podium in the coming weeks.
