Burnley can’t match Chelsea’s big guns
● Hakim Ziyech shone and Kurt Zouma and Timo Werner were also on target as Chelsea enjoyed an easy 3-0 win at struggling Burnley in the English Premier League yesterday.
Chelsea, who had a long trip to Krasnodar in Russia in midweek, made five changes from Wednesday’s Champions League starting line-up and made a bright start at Turf Moor.
The impressive Ziyech drilled the ball home in the 26th minute from the edge of the box, after a smart passing move from Frank Lampard’s team, to claim his first league goal for the club.
Extended their lead
Burnley, who are without a win and have just a single point from their opening six games, struggled to cause any real problems for Chelsea.
Chelsea comfortably dealt with early second-half pressure from the Clarets and then extended their lead in the 63rd minute when Zouma thundered in a header from a Mason Mount corner.
Boyhood club
The outcome was put beyond any doubt when Burnley midfielder Ashley Westwood’s pass was intercepted by Reece James and Ziyech did well to feed Werner, the German confidently beating Nick Pope from inside the area.
Manchester City beat Sheffield United at Bramall Lane with Kyle Walker scoring against his boyhood club to extend the home side’s winless start to the Premier League season to seven games.
Pep not going anywhere Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola yesterday reiterated his desire to stay with the Premier League club and ruled out a potential return to Barcelona.
United had a couple of opportunities to equalise after weathering numerous City attacks but wasted their chances and failed to test Ederson in goal as Pep Guardiola’s side kept only their second clean sheet in the league this season.
“I’m frustrated with my side, I think we got into some decent areas,” Wilder told BT Sport. “If people think we can go toe-to-toe and open up and have an unbelievable game of football, then they’re deluded, really are deluded.
Quality that we didn’t show
“They’ve spent about a billion pounds on the structure and organisation and they’ve got incredible players, so we’ve got to find a different way of playing.
“When we do get to decent positions, we’ve got to look at ourselves in terms of the quality that we didn’t show to make those opportunities count. That’s frustrating and disappointing.”
The Blades have not won in 11 games in all competitions stretching back to last season with Wilder, who is seeking his 100th win as the club’s manager, enduring the longest winless run of his career.
His side sit 19th in the standings with one point in seven games and could find themselves at the bottom if Fulham win at least a point against West Bromwich Albion tomorrow. —