Burnley 0-4 Chelsea: Havertz scores brace for the massacre at Lancashire

Chelsea tightened their grip on a top-three finish as a stunning second-half salvo floored relegation-threatened Burnley 4-0 at Turf Moor.

Match Report

Dyche called on his players to rekindle the form which had seen Burnley claim seven points from three games before Tuesday's defeat to Leicester and, after weathering a positive Chelsea start, the Clarets rose to that challenge in the first half.

Charlie Taylor had to block a James' shot on the goal line on the quarter-hour mark but from there on the goal-mouth action was concentrated on the Chelsea goal, with Thiago Silva coming to the visitors' rescue on 17 minutes when he thwarted Weghorst's goal-bound effort.

Burnley's dominance should have been rewarded on the half-hour when Edouard Mendy flapped at Ashley Westwood's deep cross and presented the ball to McNeil but, with the Chelsea goal gaping in front of him, he ballooned a shot over the bar.

Connor Roberts produced a crucial headed clearance to prevent Jorginho's rasping drive from handing Chelsea an undeserved lead on the stroke of half-time, but that defensive resoluteness escaped Burnley within seconds of the restart as the visitors ran riot.

James bewildered McNeil with a superb weaving run into the Burnley area before lashing the opener past the hapless Nick Pope, and the Clarets stopper was picking the ball out of his net five minutes later when Pulisic's sumptuous cross was nodded in at the far post by Havertz.

Burnley's collapse was complete when two became three on 55 minutes as Havertz doubled his Premier League goals tally for the season with the simplest of tap-ins from James' centre, and further salt was added to the wounds when Pulisic capitalised on James Tarkowski's error to slot in a fourth.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

29' CLOSE! McNeil misses a good chance

39' James makes timely block

44' CHANCE! Jorginho's long shot blocked

46' GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Chelsea (Reece James)

52' GOAL! Burnley 0-2 Chelsea (Havertz)

54' GOAL! Burnley 0-3 Chelsea (Havertz)

68' GOAL! Burnley 0-4 Chelsea (Pulisic)

Line-ups

Burnley XI: Lennon, Jay Rodriguez, Westwood, Tarkowski, Taylor, Pope, Weghorst, Brownhill, C. Roberts, McNeil, N. Collins

Subs: Bardsley, Hennessey, Cork, Barnes, Kevin Long, Lowton, Cornet, Richardson, B. Thomas

Chelsea XI: Thiago Silva, Saul , Jorginho, Rudiger, E. Mendy, Kante, T. Chalobah, Mount, Pulisic, Havertz, Reece James

Subs: Lukaku, Kovacic, Kepa, Christensen, Werner, Ziyech, Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy, Sarr