CHELSEA put on a second-half show to ease past Burnley 4-0 at Turf Moor, but not everybody shone for Thomas Tuchel.
After failing to break down a stubborn backline before the break, Reece James’ goal moments into the second half cued the floodgates to open.
Kai Havertz made it two with a deft header before James assisted the German for his second and Chelsea’s third.
Christian Pulisic netted a fourth to put the added gloss on the performance, but despite the comfortable victory, Mason Mount struggled to make his mark on the game.
Here’s how SunSport’s Giacomo Pisa rated and slated the Blues…
Edouard Mendy – 5
Very lucky not to have been directly fault for a Burnley goal when flapping at a cross, but luckily for him Dwight McNeil fluffed his lines.
Looked a tad shaky at corners too, with Burnley eager to put the ball right on top of him at every opportunity.
An uncharacteristic performance, but was helped out by his defence to earn a clean sheet.
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Antonio Rudiger – 7
Contract rebel Rudiger is a guaranteed 7/10 every week, and today was no different.
Had his trademark one or two efforts from range that didn’t lead to much, but at the back he was faultless again.
Thiago Silva – 7
As calm and assured as ever, even when faced with the daunting prospect of marking the giant Wout Weghorst.
Bailed Mendy out to clear an effort from Brownhill off the line after Aaron Lennon left Saul for dead on the Burnley right.
The experienced defender got his head to everything first and oozed clash yet again.
Trevoh Chalobah – 6
Found dealing with the physicality of Weghorst more difficult than his two centre-back colleagues.
Composed himself well after the break when Chelsea grabbed control of the game, and got through the second half without too much incident.
Reece James – 9
Chelsea look so much more of a threat with James bombing down the right and he broke the deadlock less than two minutes into the second half with a stunning goal.
Picked the ball up on the right hand side and twisted McNeil inside and out, before firing across Nick Pope and into the bottom corner.
He then put it on a plate for Havertz to score the third, firing a dangerous ball across the face of goal for the German to tap home from close range.
Saul – 5
The playing Saul at left wing-back experiment failed again.
He was solid enough with the ball at his feet but looked way out of his depth every time he was called to defend.
Fortunately for him, and Tuchel, the Blues dominated possession throughout so his services in his own half of the pitch weren’t required
Jorginho – 5
Plenty of possession but the midfielder didn’t do a whole lot with it.
Found his stride more when the Blues hit the front, which allowed the Italian to dictate the tempo of the game.
N’Golo Kante – 6
A typical hustling and bustling performance from the Frenchman before he was replaced with 20 minutes to play.
Kante brought plenty of energy to proceedings as he always does
Christian Pulisic – 7
Enjoyed a few mazy runs at the Burnley backline that had the home team scrambling, doing well to find space between the lines.
Assisted Havertz for Chelsea’s second when cutting on to his weaker left foot and floating a perfect cross to the back post.
Then got on the scoresheet himself when capitalising on a James Tarkowski error to fire home.
Mason Mount – 4
Pushed and probed to find a breakthrough, but still looked a little lost after missing two sitters in the Carabao Cup final last week.
Didn’t contribute to any of the four Chelsea goals, and possibly guilty of trying a little too hard.
Kai Havertz – 8
Manhandled by Burnley’s towering centre-backs in the first half, the German playing in the ‘False Nine’ role didn’t get a whole load of service into his feet.
But the forward showed his class to score after the break, drifting to the back post and heading home an inch-perfect cross from Pulisic.
SUBS
Mateo Kovacic (on for Kante, 70 mins) – 5
Marshalled things well after he came on, but the game was already won by that point.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (on for James, 70 mins) – 5
Proved he could do it all by coming on at right wing-back after playing in the heart of defence against Luton.
Timo Werner (on for Mount, 90 mins) – N/A
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
