Pulisic hat-trick sees Chelsea cruise to victory despite Burnley late show

Chelsea claimed three points at Turf Moor, but they were made to work for the win especially in the first half and Lampard will not be happy with what he saw in the final five minutes of the match as his team looked to have lost concentration. 

It was a fairly even start and Willian hit over the crossbar after just five minutes before there was a scare when Kurt Zouma hit his head against the hoardings three minutes later. Fortunately, it was not too serious. McNeil was targetting Chelsea's right, but the away side nearly opened the scoring when Pulisic ran down the middle before Pieters blocked Mason Mount's shot. Burnley then started to have a good period of play and McNeil managed to shoot at Kepa, but Lampard's men hit the front after 21 minutes.

Pulisic dispossessed Lowton 30 yards from goal and he ran and swerved past players before slotting it in the far corner. It was a great goal and justified Lampard's decision to start him. After the goal, Burnley reacted really well and they had a flood of chances. First, Tarkowski leaped higher at the far post, but Barnes could not head back towards goal before Pieters saw his deflected volley brilliantly stopped by Kepa before Barnes headed wide from two yards out with an open net after Mee headed a free-kick back across the goal. 

At the other end, Pulisic tested Pope and Abraham hit wide from inside the D, but Burnley kept on causing problems through Ashley Barnes and Dwight McNeil. A draw would have been fair going into the break, but Pulisic got his second right on half-time. Tarkowski's pass was cut out by Willian and Pulisic ran 30 yards before Mee deflected his strike past Nick Pope. 

After the break, Zouma so nearly scored an own goal when he miscued a clearance straight into Kepa's face before Rodriguez tested Kepa. Unfortunately for the Clarets, Pulisic struck again 11 minutes after the interval. Lowton kicked Mount's corner straight back to him and his ball back in was brilliantly guided home with the back of his head. Before they could come to terms with that, Willian made it four after a break through the middle saw Abraham assist the Brazilian whose shot across Pope went in the far corner. 

The game calmed down once it went 0-4, but Azpilicueta blocked Westwood and McNeil's goalbound efforts in quick succession in the 64th minute as Burnley looked for a consolation. Then 14 minutes from time, Callum Hudson-Odoi thought he had won a penalty after being fouled by Tarkowski, but replays showed there was no contact and the VAR correctly told Michael Oliver to give the Chelsea player a yellow card for diving. That led to him being booed the next time he touched the ball. 

The match was heading slowly towards its conclusion when Jay Rodriguez scored an absolute stunner for Burnley four minutes from time. Pulisic lost the ball in his own half, Brady and Rodriguez combined in attack before the latter hit a thunderbolt from 35 yards to leave Kepa with no chance. Three minutes later, Sean Dyche's men got another after Brady gave the ball to McNeil and the 19 year-old's shot was deflected off Tomori into the goal.

That lifted the home crowd and Tomori even had to clear a dangerous cross into the box for a corner as stoppage time approached before Matej Vydra headed over the resulting set-piece. It was a very poor final 10 minutes for Chelsea who could have been in trouble had it gone 3-4. That said, Chelsea were the deserved winners they played well for most of the game and were clinical with their chances. Burnley also gave it their best shot and the manager and fans will be pleased with the late fightback after almost matching Chelsea for the first 45 minutes.