Staff Reporter.
Emphatic finishes from Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso gave Thomas Tuchel his first victory as Chelsea head coach against a below-par Burnley.
Captain Azpilicueta – the longest-serving player in the team – drilled Callum Hudson-Odoi’s lay-off high past Nick Pope just before half-time in the Premier League encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Azpilicueta’s fellow Spanish defender Alonso added a classy second late on, skilfully controlling a Christian Pulisic cross before lashing a volley over Pope at his near post.
The impressive Hudson-Odoi was unlucky not to score in between with a shot that was deflected on to a post by Burnley defender Erik Pieters.
Chelsea comfortably registered a second successive clean sheet under Tuchel, whose first game was the midweek goalless draw with Wolves, as Burnley did not manage a shot on target.
The only downside for Tuchel was Timo Werner’s failure to score for a 12th league game as Chelsea climbed three places to seventh in the table, while Burnley remain 15th.
“Very pleased with the performance and very important to win,” Tuchel said after the game.
“It gives us confidence otherwise you have to convince players you’re on the right track. Defensively and offensively it was very good. We controlled the match completely never lost our intensity and awareness.
“It should be a signal to our guys upfront that two defensive guys scored. We will work on this because we had a lot of touches in the box, a lot of deliveries. But in the end I couldn’t care less than we scored through Marcos and Azpi.”