Chelsea thrash Burnley, Leeds lose under new boss

BURNLEY, England : Chelsea put aside their ownership worries to solidify their grip on third place in the Premier League with a 4-0 win at Burnley on Saturday, while Leeds United slipped further into trouble with a 1-0 loss at Leicester City under their new manager.

With leaders Manchester City hosting Manchester United on Sunday, the focus was on Chelsea whose Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale this week amid calls for sanctions against him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Eighteenth-placed Burnley wasted a series of first half chances but their normally resilient defence fell to pieces after Reece James opened the scoring in the 47th minute.

German forward Kai Havertz drifted off Burnley defender Connor Roberts to head home a Christian Pulisic cross to make it 2-0 for the visitors six minutes later.

Havertz then had another simple finish, converting a James cross from close range in the 55th before American Pulisic had the easiest of tasks, scoring after Burnley defender James Tarkowski diverted a Saul Niguez cross into his path after 69.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said the performance was proof his team were to keep the ownership issues out of their mind.

"It shows the guys have what it takes to play for Chelsea, it shows obviously (they have) the environment to focus on football because we believe we are allowed to focus on football as good as possible. That is why I’m very happy," he said.

Chelsea are third on 53 points, 13 behind leaders Manchester City, while Burnley remain third-bottom on 21, a point off Everton in the safety zone but having played two more games.

ALARMING SLUMP

Leeds sacked their popular Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa in midweek and brought in American Jesse Marsch in a