Superb Chelsea destroy Burnley without Hazard

Burnley 0 Chelsea 4

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Chelsea cruised to victory at Turf Moor without Eden Hazard.

Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alvaro Morata scored again and there was also a goal for Willian.

Morata’s opener midway through the first half – his third goal in his last four Chelsea appearances – put them ahead.

Barkley and Willian netted early in the second half, and Loftus-Cheek scored in injury time to complete a resounding victory which moved the Blues – still unbeaten under boss Maurizio Sarri – back up to second in the Premier League table.

Morata was teed up by Barkley’s lovely touch and calmly steered his shot beyond Joe Hart from 10 yards out.

Barkley’s goal, scored 12 minutes into the second period, was a beauty.

The England midfielder strode forward with options to his left and right, opted to shoot – and drilled home a glorious left-footed strike from near the edge of the penalty area.

Willian’s was a lovely strike too. The Brazilian cut in from the left and curled a right-footed shot beyond Hart.

And Loftus-Cheek, who scored a Europa League hat-trick on Thursday, bundled the ball in from the resulting corner after Hart had pushed Olivier-Giroud’s shot onto the top of the bar.

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Chelsea barely missed Hazard, who was sidelined by a back problem.

They would have taken an early lead but for a fine save from Hart.

N’Golo Kante’s cross dropped to Barkley, whose shot was going wide before being diverted towards goal by Morata.

Keeper Hart showed superb reactions to push Morata’s header wide of the target.

Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, on the other hand, was far less convincing when attempting to deal with Matthew Lowton’s deep cross three minutes later.

The Spaniard got nowhere near the ball and Chelsea were relieved to see Robbie Brady’s effort from a tight angle go wide.

Having caused Chelsea some problems, Burnley were carved open and Willian fired against the post shortly before Morata’s 22nd-minute goal.

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The visitors continued to dominate and Morata had two chances to score again before half-time.

Morata cut inside Ben Mee after collecting Marcos Alonso’s cross only to shoot wide of the near post, and he was then denied by Hart after being set up by Jorginho’s sublime chip.

But Hart was unable to prevent Barkley scoring his third goal in as many games and Willian then putting the game beyond Burnley’s reach.

Loftus-Cheek, on as a first-half substitute for the injured Pedro, scuffed the ball in after being teed up by Alonso’s back-heel.