Lampard’s Chelsea are maintaining momentum

FRANK LAMPARD felt his Chelsea side took ‘a nice step forward’ as they made light work of Burnley with a 3-0 win at Turf Moor.

The Blues followed up their 4-0 thrashing of FC Krasnodar in midweek with another clean sheet and another productive day in front of goal, as Hakim Ziyech, Kurt

Zouma and Timo Werner all found the target in a confident display.

There were also fine performances on either flank from Ben Chilwell and Reece James, who helped add to both the attacking verve and defensive shape of a team on the up.

Lampard’s summer spending spree looks to be paying off as his combinations settle into their work and he cut a satisfied figure at the end of the game.

‘It was a complete performance,’ said Lampard. ‘This feels like a nice step forward. We’re nowhere near the end of the road but it was a really good display and a solid one too. Certainly, we have a nice bit of momentum.

‘We brought players in who didn’t have a pre-season so we knew we couldn’t throw everything in the air and have it all land perfectly. But clean sheets are a great sign of the spine in the team.

‘When you’re keeping clean sheets and scoring goals you know you’re going in the right direction. I’m not going to jump up and down after a win, but I really enjoyed that performance. We were much more positive in our style of forward passing and that’s all part of the process.’

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was aggrieved by the decision not to award a penalty when Edouard Mendy bundled through Ashley Barnes just after he took a shot.

‘He (Barnes) gets felled pretty harshly but it’s not a penalty. I’m pretty confused. If that’s in the middle of the pitch it’s a foul.’

Burnley (4-4-2): Pope 5; Lowton 6.5, Tarkowski 6, Long 7, Taylor 6.5; Brownhill 6, Stephens 5.5 (Rodriguez 45min, 5.5), Westwood 5, McNeil 6; Wood 5.5, Barnes 6 (Brady 73, 6). Booked: Long. Subs (not used): Peacock-Farrell, Dunne, Thompson, Richardson, Vydra.

CHELSEA (4-3-3): Mendy 6; James 7.5, Zouma 7, Silva 7, Chilwell 8; Havertz 6 (Jorginho 86), Kante 8, Mount 7.5; Ziyech 8.5 (Hudson-Odoi 73, 6), Abraham 7 (Giroud 77, 6); Werner 6.5. Subs (not used): Caballero, Ziger, Rudiger, Azpilicueta. Scorers: Ziech 26, Zouma 63, Werner 70. referee: D Coote 7.