Ruthless Chelsea cruise past Burnley

Chelsea tightened their grip on a top-three finish as a stunning second-half salvo floored relegation-threatened Burnley 4-0 at Turf Moor.

The Blues needed just seven second-half minutes to take full advantage of the first-half reprieve handed to them by Burnley's wastefulness, with Reece James' slaloming, solo effort opening the floodgates before Kai Havertz's double sealed the Chelsea victory with 35 minutes to spare.

Burnley should have gone into the break at least a goal to the good but were punished for their profligacy, with Dwight McNeil guilty of missing an open goal after Thiago Silva had cleared an effort from Wout Weghorst off the line in an encouraging, yet fruitless, first period for the Clarets.

The victory sees Chelsea open up an eight-point cushion over fifth-placed West Ham - who have played a game more - in the race for Champions League qualification, while Burnley stay in the bottom three, a point from safety having sustained a severe blow to their goal difference.

Dyche called on his players to rekindle the form which had seen Burnley claim seven points from three games before Tuesday's defeat to Leicester and, after weathering a positive Chelsea start, the Clarets rose to that challenge in the first half.

Charlie Taylor had to block a James' shot on the goal line on the quarter-hour mark but from there on the goal-mouth action was concentrated on the Chelsea goal, with Thiago Silva coming to the visitors' rescue on 17 minutes when he thwarted Weghorst's goal-bound effort.

Burnley's dominance should have been rewarded on the half-hour when Edouard Mendy flapped at Ashley Westwood's deep cross and presented the ball to McNeil but, with the Chelsea goal gaping in front of him, he ballooned a shot over