BURNLEY 2 LAND OF THE US star Pulisic opens account with hat-trick
CHELSEA 4
CHRISTIAN PULISIC was ordered to make a difference by Frank Lampard – and his perfect hat-trick certainly ticked that box.
Chelsea’s United States international was sent on in midweek with those words from his boss ringing in his ears – and he came up trumps at Turf Moor.
Lampard urged him to pull something out of the bag during the Champions League tie at Ajax, and the striker did so, setting up Michy Batshuayi’s late winner.
And that clearly worked wonders for the American’s confidence as he ripped the sorry Clarets to shreds.
In so doing, he helped his club to their seventh victory on the spin – their best winning streak in more than two-and-ahalf years.
And when Pulisic found the net with a lovely back-header early in the second half, he also set a club record. That goal was the fourth successive match on their travels the Blues have hit three or more.
It was an evening when pretty much everything Pulisic did worked out.
His first goal went through the legs of two defenders, his second took a deflection and the cross from Mason Mount that allowed him to claim his hat-trick was tailor-made.
But they were also three finishes of quality that gave glimpses of why Chelsea were prepared to gamble with so much of the money that they knew they were going to receive when Eden Hazard allowed his contract to run down.
To the watching world, the goals would have been a surprise as the forward has struggled to find any form since arriving during the summer following a £ 58million switch from Borussia Dortmund. Indeed, two weeks ago he was reduced to tears after being substituted during an international against Canada.
That prompted suggestions he was struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League, but Pulisic was the standout performer in the opening 45 minutes – he mixed up his position on the pitch, confused the Clarets and bagged his first Premier League goals for the club.
Sean Dyche’s men had started brightly, but that was undone approaching the midway point of the half when rightback Matthew Lowton dithered in midfield and was robbed by Pulisic.
He drove towards goal as Burnley’s defence covered, with James Tarkowski trying to cut him off. But he earned ned a shooting chance on his left foot, ot, drilling across Nick Pope into the he bottom corner.
Burnley threw everything they y could at Kepa, who saved Erik k Pieters’ deflected shot before
Ashley Barnes wasted two good chances from headers.
The hosts fell further behind on the stroke of half-time as
Pulisic tried his luck from the right-hand side of the box after bearing down on goal, the ball deflecting off Ben Mee.
Burnley had to take chances to o repair the damage early in the he second half, but slack defending cost them again. Mount had the ball returned t d to him from a corner and he swung the ball over where Pulisic guided the ball into the net with the back of his head.
Within two minutes, Willian had added the fourth, rubbing salt into the wounds before referee Michael Oliver awarded a penalty after Callum HudsonOdoi went to ground.
VAR was consulted with the official reversing his decision and cautioning the England international for diving.
The evening’s drama was not over, however, as the Clarets scored twice in the dying moments.
But not even Jay Rodriguez’s superb 25-yarder, nor Dwight McNeil’s deflected effort, were enough to take the spotlight from Pulisic.