That was arguably the best collective performance from Chelsea that we have seen thus far this season, despite the glaring absence of Eden Hazard who was out due to a back injury. After a few shaky moments at our defensive end that were rightfully answered on counters, Chelsea went on and opened the scoreline with an excellent goal from Álvaro Morata, on the back of some great footwork from Ross Barkley to adjust the ball and release the pass to feed the Spaniard. After that, it was cruise mode for Chelsea. With goals abound. The next two scores were long ranged shouts. The first by Barkley, extending his goalscoring record to three goals in our last three EPL matches. And the second by Willian, enjoying all the space given by the Burnley defence in front of him to take a shot at a fragile Joe Hart under the Clarets’ goalpost. To wrap it all up — and make it all much sweeter for us — Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who entered the match in place of Pedro 30 minutes into the game, got himself in the mix with a late score. Four goals to the good guys! Carefree. Pedro gets in the starting lineup in place of Hazard, although it is Willian who sits at the left wing as a stand-in for the Belgian star. Other than that, it is the same lineup from the Manchester United game. Pedro left the pitch while holding his stomach. What kind of injury could that be? Nevertheless, it is RLC who makes it into the pitch as Sarri did not bring any natural wingers as options for his bench. And in the last 15 miutes, with 3 goals already in our favour, Morata and Jorginho make way for Olivier Giroud and Cesc Fàbregas, respectively. 7 wins and 3 draws in 10 Premier League matches. Sitting beautifully in second place, at least until tomorrow when Tottenham host Manchester City. Next up: Frank Lampard’s Derby County at Stamford Bridge for the League Cup. Featuring Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, most likely! KTBFFH.<doc-sep>As Mauricio Sarri made his way from the dug-out at the end of this victory, he had between his lips the filter for a roll-up cigarette. Though frankly he would have been forgiven had he been chewing at a rather large Cuban cigar. As they eased themselves into second place in the Premier League, his Chelsea were quite magnificent here, full of invention, industry and physical endeavour. And all this without their best player. Eden Hazard had not recovered from the back issue that kept him out of the midweek Europa League win. That his absence was barely noticed is testament to the cohesion and spirit Sarri has instilled in his side. Far from wilting on a chilly Sunday lunchtime in Burnley, from the moment things got underway after a minute’s silence to remember both lost servicemen and the victims of Saturday’s helicopter crash in Leicester, they flourished. Withstanding a brief opening salvo from the home side to take absolute control, by the time they had finished this was a match that redefined the term routine. Burnley knew they were in for a testing afternoon as early as the 12th minute when Joe Hart arced his back to tip Alvaro Morata’s sharp header over the bar. A minute later Willian hit the post. And then came the inevitable: the visitors opened the scoring with a goal which was a neat summation of their collective creativity. N’golo Kante received the ball in midfield and, as he does, played it carefully to Ross Barkley. He took one touch, then threaded a pass between the Burnley centrebacks into Alvaro Morata’s path. The Spaniard poked it with the toe of his right boot adroitly beyond Hart. Sparked by his finish, the lively Morata might have had a hat-trick by half time. He seemed to be continually finding space in behind the befuddled home defence. First he poked wide after Marco Alonso had played him in, then, after stepping on to Jorginho’s delicious chipped pass, forced Hart to make another fine save. In between he had managed to irritate the Burnley centre-backs by going down under a James Tarkowski challenge. “I don’t know why they need to fall all over the place,” complained Burnley’s Sean Dyche, entirely aware that his complaint was mere clutching at straws.<doc-sep>Sign up to FREE email alerts from Football London - Chelsea Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Match of the Day 2 pundit Ian Wright has applauded Willian for his performance against Burnley for a Chelsea side lacking Eden Hazard. After suffering some rough treatment at the hands of Manchester United last weekend, the Belgian was left out of Maurizio Sarri's team to travel up to Turf Moor and face the Clarets. He also missed out on the win over BATE Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday night. Fans of the Blues have come to expect the worst whenever the winger is unavailable given how much their attack has come to rely on his ability with the ball. Previously, Chelsea have failed to click without Hazard pulling the strings and dragging defenders around to create gaps for other players. Willian stepped into his place at Turf Moor, lining up on the left rather than in the Brazilian's usual berth on the right. It proved to be an inspired move by Sarri as the 30-year-old ran the show from the opposite flank to score one of four goals away from home. Speaking as a pundit on BBC Sport's Match of the Day 2 programme, former Arsenal striker Wright picked out the wide man for specific praise. (Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images) "I thought Willian was amazing today," he said. "You heard Sean Dyche saying that when you play a team of that calibre, the players that he's got, it's going to be difficult for them, but they didn't get close enough to them. "They would have been delighted to not see Hazard's name on the teamsheet but Willian was unplayable for them today. "He was predominantly on the left. He was Hazard-esque, running them out of danger and getting them into the last third. "No one was able to pick him up all game. He was very comfortable. Didn't really waste any ball. Once he found himself in tight positions, he showed a bit of skill to keep the play going. "He was stretching them. Flicking it on. Getting ball in the right area with the ability and the pace. For his goal, you know he's going to be coming on the right foot and it was almost impossible to stop him." It is precisely the sort of performance that his critics often claim are beyond him, especially when Hazard is absent from the Chelsea team. However, given how important the front three became to Sarri at Napoli, with Dries Mertens flanked by Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne from right to left, respectively, there is no reason why Willian and his wing-mate cannot both prosper under the Italian this season. Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android . Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .<doc-sep>
No Hazard, no problem. Chelsea made light of Eden Hazard’s absence to demolish Burnley at Turf Moor and ­underline their title credentials. The attacking brilliance of ­Alvaro Morata, Ross Barkley and Willian ensured Hazard was not missed by the Blues as the ­injured Belgian star sat out a league game for the first time since December 30. Chelsea sliced through ­Burnley and would not have been flattered by an even more emphatic scoreline as Willian hit the woodwork and Joe Hart denied them several times. Playmaker Barkley ­dazzled and is finally ­delivering on the huge ­potential he first showed when he made his debut for Everton in the Premier League, aged 17. (Image: 2018 Getty Images) Barkley can play a killer pass, as he did for Morata’s opener, while his own drilled finish for the second goal from 25 yards out was ­executed to perfection. Maurizio Sarri was ­delighted his side won so convincingly for the second time in four days without talisman Hazard. The Chelsea boss said: “I want Hazard in every match if ­possible ­because I think he gives us something different. “I’m very happy because the team was able to score seven in two matches without him. “But I want him back as soon as ­possible.” (Image: Action Images via Reuters) That is unlikely to be against Frank Lampard’s Derby in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday but Sarri is more hopeful Hazard will face Crystal Palace next Sunday at the Bridge. Willian and Morata also shone, although they displayed an unattractive side to their beautiful play by diving to try and win penalties. They were both booked and neither needs to indulge in such dark arts when they are blessed with so much talent. (Image: Getty Images) Clarets boss Sean Dyche felt their cheating was “a blot” on Chelsea’s win. He said: “I don’t know why they do what they do because they’re a great side, but they were falling all over the place. “I don’t know why Willian is diving in the box, there’s no need to do that.” (Image: Reuters) Chelsea’s destruction of Burnley means Sarri is the first Blues boss to go unbeaten in his first 10 Premier League games at the start of a campaign. The omens are encouraging – Chelsea went on to win the title when they went ­undefeated in the first nine games of the 2005-06 and 2014-15 seasons. Burnley started positively ­before Chelsea seized control and made the breakthrough on 22 minutes. N’Golo Kante fed Barkley, who slipped an incisive ball through for Morata to score with a deft finish – his fourth goal of the campaign. Sarri said the Spaniard should have had more and he shot into the side netting before Hart denied him. Chelsea’s second came on 57 minutes courtesy of Barkley, ­firing home superbly from 25 yards into the far corner to score for the third successive game. Not to be outdone, five ­minutes later, Willian showed he can also notch from distance when he cut inside Johann Berg Gudmundsson on the left and hit a right-foot shot which gave Hart no chance. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the hat-trick hero against BATE ­Borisov, made it four in added time when he converted a backheel from ­Marcos Alonso.