Burnley 2-4 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Lampard expected a “tough battle” against Burnley, and that’s precisely what we got, especially early on in both halves, as the home side’s gameplan of hitting it long, winning set pieces, and playing aggressive, physical, uncomplicated football looked to play early dividends.

But Chelsea stood strong and tall amid all the aerial bombardment, sharp elbows, and cheap fouls, and gave Burnley a bit of their own medicine with clinical counters, especially through Christian Pulisic.

The big-money signing was making his first Premier League start in some time, and got not only his first ... or his first two ... but his first THREE Premier League goals.

For the first, he drove at goal, beat a man, and finished between another’s legs. For the second, he took a powerful shot that was partially blocked, but still found the target. For the third, he made one of his near-post runs on corners count.

Left foot. Right foot. Header. The perfect hat-trick.

Willian then joined the party to make it 4-0 Chelsea, and we still had half an hour to play! Chelsea could’ve added a few more in that time, but the closest we came was a Hudson-Odoi VAR yellow card for diving, after Michael Oliver had initially given a penalty for a push. A no-call probably would’ve been the most correct call.

Instead, it was Jay Rodriguez who got a consolation goal for Burnley with an absolutely ridiculous 30-yard strike. Not much you can do about those! And then Burnley got a second, a deflected long shot, as Chelsea were shutting down.

Fortunately, that was that.

Still, what a fantastic win for the Blues!

KTBFFH

• Chelsea in the 4-2-3-1, with Pulisic getting a long-awaited start instead of Hudson-Odoi, the rest exactly as expected.
• James for Alonso (with Azpi moving to the left), Hudson-Odoi for Willian, Giroud for Abraham the mostly like-for-like subs.
• Bit silly about the final few minutes to lose the clean sheet.
• Chelsea stay in fourth, as Manchester City and Leicester City had both won this weekend already (the latter to a record tune of 9-0, even!).
• SEVEN wins in a row (all comps) for Lampard’s Chelsea. FOUR in a row in the league.
• Next up: Manchester United at the Bridge on Wednesday in the League Cup
• Carefree.

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