Chelsea 2-0 Burnley
Marcos Alonso scored on his return from the Chelsea wilderness as Thomas Tuchel got his first win as Chelsea boss.
Alonso, ostracised after falling out with previous boss Frank Lampard, made the game safe in the 84th minute when he controlled Christian Pulisic’s ball on his chest, then knee, before volleying in off the cross bar, to add to Cesar Azpilicueta’s 40th minute opening goal of the Tuchel reign.
For the second time since the German manager took charge, the visitors to Stamford Bridge offered extremely little going forward, with Burnley having one attempt all game.
The majority of the opening half mirrored the stalemate against Wolves on Wednesday as Chelsea struggled to break down a deep-lying Burnley, with finishing from Mason Mount and Timo Werner wayward.
The deadlock was broken just before half time as Callum Hudson-Odoi, starting for a second time after struggling to get off the bench under Lampard, drove in from the right before laying off for captain Azpilicueta to shoot past Nick Pope via a slight deflection.
Chelsea looked more fluent in the second half, and probably should have won by more, Hudson-Odoi having a shot deflect of Erik Pieters onto the post, and Pope doing well to prevent an own-goal after a cross from the England winger.
Pulisic went close a couple of times before Alonso secured the points, as Tuchel made changes to assess more players, but it was two veterans whose time appeared to be passing under Lampard who made the difference today.
Chelsea climb to 7th until at least Tuesday.
Click here for a long read assessment of Lampard’s sacking.
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