An excellent performance by Raheem Sterling led Chelsea to a 4-1 win over Burnley this afternoon, helping the Blues record back-to-back league wins for the first time since October last year.
Mauricio Pochettino made just one change to the side he sent out at Craven Cottage last weekend, bringing in Sterling in place of Mykhailo Mudryk.
That decision proved to be an inspired one as Sterling was by far the best player for The Blues and was involved in all four goals while also grabbing his third of the season.
Chelsea bossed the opening half hour, but it was Lyle Foster who drove into open space, taking two defenders with him before putting Wilson Odobert through, and the Frenchman made no mistake with the finish to give Burnley the lead against the run of play.
Odobert, at 18 years and 313 days of age, claimed a piece of club history with that goal as he became Burnley’s youngest goalscorer and the first player aged 18 or younger to score a Premier League goal for the club.
Chelsea came into the match having won the last five meetings against Burnley, but such is the churn at the club that Thiago Silva was the only survivor from the starting 11 the last time these sides met in March last year.
The Blues started the second half on the front foot, and it was Sterling causing problems again, going one-on-one with Vitinho, who brought down the England international in the box, leaving Stuart Attwell with no choice but to point to the spot.
That was the 25th penalty that Sterling has earned in the Premier League, and it was a big moment for new signing Cole Palmer, who stepped up to slot away the spot-kick.
The visitors dominated the second half, and Sterling got his due reward after Conor Gallagher fed him a through ball that he finished with relative ease, making him Chelsea’s top goal scorer this season on three.
Chelsea’s next seven league matches are all against teams that finished in the top half of the table last season, and Pochettino would have been hoping for a big performance from his side to gain some momentum heading into that difficult run of fixtures.
Burnley carried very little threat the longer the match went, and Sterling capped off an excellent afternoon, leaving Dara O’Shea for dead before finding Palmer, who set up Nicolas Jackson for the fourth goal of the afternoon.
The Clarets are away to Brentford after the international break, while Chelsea will host the London Derby against The Gunners.
