Jorginho penalty puts Chelsea on road to easy 3-0 win over Burnley at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 3 v Burnley 0
Jorginho set the Blues off to a must-need home late win this afternoon as they dispatched plucky Burnley 3-0 - Tammy Abraham and a first league goal for winger callum-Hudson Odoi sealed an emphatic three-pointer.
The win cements the Blues as a solid fourth place contender with an outside chance of overhauling Man City and Leicester City.
The opening stages of this encounter were stodgy with little to choose between the two.
Burnley, like West Ham, Bournemouth and Southampton recently were content to sit back and hope to strike on the break.
Those three sides came away with the spoils putting the Blues home form under serious examination.
But it all come right for Frank Lampard’s charges this time out.
On 17 minutes, they had a great chance to open the scoring Jeff Hendricks nodded home from close range on 17 minutes.
But VAR intervened and adjudged that Ben Mee’s was offside when he headed to Hendrick.
But on 26 minutes and with realistically their first worthwhile attack, Chelsea were given a penalty when Matthew Lowton was foxed by Willian and upended the Brazil winger in the penalty area.
Up stepped Jorginho who cooly slotted home a cheeky slow, right-footer, sending Nick Pope the wrong way.
The visitors had Ross Barkley to than for preserving the lead on 35 minutes, when Mee’s powerful header was hacked off the line by the England midfielder, playing his first league match since October 19, against Newcastle United.
Burnley needed a Barkley of their own three minutes later when Reece James’s byline cross was met powerfully by Tammy Abraham’s downward header foxing Pope and Mee on the goal line - both players seemingly looking for the other to clear - both failed and Chelsea downed their lead.
James could have killed the game off but his venomous shot was blocked by Pope.
There were no changes by either side at half-time.
It too just three minutes from the restart to seal the three lints for the west Londoners.
The perfect cross by Cesar Azpilicueta was volleyed home by Callum Hudson-Odoi from close range.
VAR then intervened to check wether Abraham had got a touch on the ball putting Hudson-Odoi offside. But they said the striker did not get a touch and Hudson-Odoi, who was onside when the cross came in, could go off and celebrate in style.
It was his first league goal for the Blues.
Pope denied Mason Mount on 78 minutes kicking away his goal-bound attempt after Hudson-Odoi cut back the ball from the byline to set up the gilt-edged opportunity.
At the end, it was a comfortable performance and deserved three points.
Teams: Chelsea, Kepa, James, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Barkley, Jorginho, Mount, Willian, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi
Subs: Caballero, Zouma, Tomori, Emerson, Kovacic, Pedro, Batshuayi
Burnley;, Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, McNeil,Westwood, Hendricks, Cork, Lennon, Wood
Subs: Hart, Gibson, Pieters, Bardsley, Vydra, Long, Koiki
Referee: Kevin Friend
