Chelsea demolish Burnley 4-0 to move second

Unbeaten Chelsea coped without Eden Hazard to move second in the Premier League by easing to 4-0 victory at Burnley.

Maurizio Sarri’s side were without their star Belgium forward and top goalscorer, who missed the game with a back injury.

Ross Barkley set up Alvaro Morata’s 22nd-minute opener, sliding a wonderful through ball into the Spaniard’s path to poke past Burnley keeper Joe Hart.

BBC reports that the England midfielder then scored himself, sending a 25-yard shot into the bottom corner of Hart’s net just before the hour mark.

Five minutes later, he registered his second assist of the match, as he set up Willian, with the Brazilian cutting in on to his right foot and curling a shot past Hart into the same corner.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who scored a midweek hat-trick in the Europa League, added a fourth in injury time to seal the win.

Burnley, who stay in 14th, barely threatened and were reduced to chasing Chelsea’s shadows for much of the game.

Chelsea are two points behind leaders Liverpool and one ahead of Manchester City, who play Tottenham on Monday night.

Sarri would have been looking for players to fill the goal void brought by Hazard’s absence.

The exceptional Willian and Barkley more than made up for his loss, while Morata looked like a striker brimming with confidence.

Morata could easily have had a first half hat-trick. Hart tipped over an instinctive header in the 12th minute, and after his opener, the forward ran on to a Willian pass and turned Ben Mee, but dragged his shot wide of the near post with the goalkeeper to beat.

More chances came for the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker, as he controlled a ball over the top from Jorginho and tried his luck with an acrobatic effort but sent his half-volley clear of the bar. Just after the break, he glanced over with a header at the near post.

Morata jogged straight down the tunnel as he came off in the 74th minute to be replaced by France’s World Cup winner Olivier Giroud, who looked as if he was on a one-man mission to break his club goal duck for the season.

Hart tipped his header on to the bar in injury time, and he then tried to guide an ambitious volley into the top corner.

Barkley’s renaissance under Sarri continued at Turf Moor and the 24-year-old scored in his third straight league game for the club, the first Englishman to do so since Frank Lampard in February 2013.

Burnley gave Barkley and Willian far too much respect as the pair caused countless problems; the only blemish on the Brazilian’s afternoon was receiving a yellow card in the first-half for diving.

An injury to Pedro in the 30th minute enabled Loftus-Cheek to come on and get some valuable Premier League minutes under his belt, while there was also time for Cesc Fabregas to make his first league appearance of the season.