Chelsea and Kai Havertz turn on style after half-time to easily topple Burnley

For 45 minutes, Chelsea’s wounded players jogged around the Turf Moor pitch as if wondering what was the point of it all. To be fair this is a question many of us have been pondering of late, but given recent events at Stamford Bridge the problem felt particularly acute. What exactly are Chelsea playing for these days? Pride? Escapism? Third place? Thomas Tuchel’s job? Who would even fire him at the moment? Is anyone safe these days?

Naturally, this suited Burnley just fine. They had troubles of their own to contend with, of course, and after a reasonably solid first half harboured genuine hope of an unexpected point in their struggle against relegation. Wout Weghorst and Dwight McNeil could even have put them ahead. Still, the mood as both teams emerged after the break was ebullient.

What happened next really depends on your interpretation of events. Did Chelsea rediscover their sense of vim and purpose, shake themselves out of their Sky Sports News-induced stupor and learn that the joy of good football is its own reward? Did Burnley crumble and collapse on the altar of their own premature ambition? Or did the team with better footballers just start doing better football things?

All we know for certain is that within two minutes Reece James had given Chelsea the lead, and six minutes after that Kai Havertz made it two, and two minutes after that Havertz scored again, and by the time Christian Pulisic made it 4-0 after a comical James Tarkowski error people were already beginning to leave.

Those who stayed watched in a sort of sullen dejection, occasionally breaking their silence to barrack Burnley players for passing it straight out of play, or both pressing the same man, or occasionally tackling each other.

In many