Chelsea thrash Burnley after second-half blitz

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Burnley 0 Chelsea 4

Chelsea brushed aside Burnley thanks to a second-half blitz at Turf Moor.

The Clarets dominated much of the first half and missed three glorious chances to take the lead with Dwight McNeil guilty of a horrendous miss when he scooped the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

That missed opportunity came after Wout Weghorst’s shot was cleared off the line by Thiago Silva as the visitors managed to get to halftime on level terms despite being on the back foot for the opening period.

But the Blues were much improved after half-time and went in front two minutes after the restart when Reece James, on his first start since December, found the bottom corner of Nick Pope’s net from just inside the box.

The Blues doubled their lead on 52 minutes when Kai Havertz headed home Christian Pulisic’s well-weighted cross and the German made it 3-0 almost immediately when he slid home James’ low cross to stun the home crowd.

Chelsea added a fourth 20 minutes from time when James Tarkowski made a hash of clearing Saul’s low cross and Pulisic blasted the ball past Pope to consolidate the Blues’ spot in the top three.

Chelsea: Mendy, James (Loftus-Chees 70), Chalobah, Silva, Rudiger, Kante (Kante 70), Jorginho, Saul, Jorginho, Pulisic, Havertz, Mount (Werner 78). Subs not used: Lukaku, Kenedy, Christensen, Sarr, Ziyech.