PULISIC THE NEW POWER
American makes grand entrance with hat-trick as Chelsea win seven in a row
CHRISTIAN PULISIC announced himself properly to English football with a devastating hat-trick as Chelsea recorded a seventh victory in a row.
Pulisic, who has been a slow burner following his move from Borussia Dortmund, was granted his first Premier League start since August following a couple of encouraging cameos off the bench.
And the 21- year- old American took full advantage with his first goals for the club — a perfect treble of right foot, left foot and header.
It was the first hat-trick of the youngster’s career and those travelling fans chanting U-S-A U-S-A didn’t give a second thought to last year’s hero Eden Hazard, now at Real Madrid and the player Pulisic was brought in to replace. Willian added a fourth for the visitors, who moved up to fourth place.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche celebrates seven years at Turf Moor next week but for his anniversary game he lost striker Chris Wood to a hamstring injury.
Chelsea hadn’t lost at Turf Moor s i nce 1983, when t hei r t eam included David Speedie and Peter Rhoades-Brown.
For the class of 2019, Frank Lampard stuck with the homegrown kids who had beaten Ajax in midweek with the exception of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was relegated to the bench to make space for £58million winger Pulisic.
Chelsea started brightly as Willian, based wide on the right of a 4-2-3-1, shot over when well placed on the edge of the box and Kurt Zouma survived a painful fall into the advertising hoarding. Once he returned to the pitch, he flattened Ashley Barnes with an aerial challenge, much to the amusement of Chelsea fans who remember the Burnley forward once dishing out rough stuff to Nemanja Matic during an infamous game at Stamford Bridge.
After a slow start, Pulisic gave a glimpse of his pace and balance with a sweeping run from the lefft. His pass to Mason Mount was an invitation to the youngster but he delayed too long and when his shot was finally delivered, Ben Mee had shuffled across to block.
Though Burnley saw less of the ball, Dwight McNeil looked a dangerous and direct outlet. His clear instructions were to run at Cesar Azpilicueta whenever he could. After 20 minutes he got his shot away and Kepa Arrizabalaga needed two attempts to save.
When Chelsea broke the deadlock after 21 minutes, it was down to the class of one man. Pulisic took full advantage of a blunder by Matt
Lowton, who dwelt on the ball midway inside his own half and the American stole in before accelerating towards the penalty area.
Once in full flow, he produced a neat body swerve to get past James Tarkowski on the left-hand side of the box before planting a low finish across Nick Pope from 12 yards.
Burnley’s response was good but they couldn’t capitalise on their most dangerous weapon — the setpiece. Tarkowski won his header at the far post following a Burnley corner but somehow Barnes got his bearings wrong in front of goal and headed the ball away from the target instead of into the top corner.
Incredibly, the normally lethal Barnes then headed wide from Mee’s header and cuffed the sidenetting in frustration.
At the other end, Pulisic continued his dazzling one-man show with another run and shot that Pope beat away. He then turned provider for Tammy Abraham, who curled a shot wide, and a clipped crossfield pass by the winger was volleyed into Pope’s midriff by Willian.
Chelsea’s second goal arrived on the stroke of half-time. Again, Pulisic pounced on a Burnley error — Willian intercepting Tarkowski’s pass and releasing his team-mate just inside the Burnley half.
This time Pulisic’s run ended with a body swerve to his right with his cross-shot deflecting off Mee to wrong-foot Pope.
Burnley needed a quick start to the second half and they almost got lucky when a cross by Erik Pieters took a ricochet and hit Kepa rather
than the keeper making the save.
Mount fed Pulisic on the counter but instead of looking for his hattrick, the 21-year-old unselfishly tried to play in Abraham and got the weight of the pass wrong.
The hat-trick did arrive before too long, however, after 56 minutes. Mount’s corner was charged back down to him and his subsequent delivery into the box was perfect, with Pulisic rising unmarked to flick his header beyond Pope.
It was then time for him to share the goals around and Willian got in on the act after an hour. Abraham’s pass to the right found the Brazilian in space and his low drive from the right-hand corner of the box carried too much power for Pope.
Chelsea sub Hudson-Odoi did his growing reputation no good when he vaulted between Lowton and Tarkowski looking for a penalty. Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot but a VAR check reversed the decision and the winger was rightly booked.
The only blemish in Pulisic’s game came late on when he slipped and allowed Jay Rodriguez to venture forward and hammer home a Burnley consolation from 20 yards, and McNeil reduced the deficit further when his shot deflected in off Fikayo Tomori.