Review: Here’s Five Things We Learned From Chelsea 3 – 0 Burnley As Hazard Inspires Blues 3rd Successive League Win

The Belgian winger looked back to his dazzling best as Antonio Conte’s men made it three straight Premier League wins under the Italian

Here’s five things we learned:

1. Hazard renaissance in full swing

Wonderful: Hazard’s glorious opener

Eden Hazard may have suffered a baffling loss of form last season, but all the signs are that the Belgium star could be back to something approaching his best this term.
A stumble and loss of control when moving into the penalty area after just seven minutes might have seen a slump of the shoulders in the recent past.
Not now. Within two minutes of that failure Hazard picked up the ball 45 yards out and ran at the Burnley defence before curling a delightful shot past Tom Heaton.
It was a world-class goal from a world-class player whose prolonged slump was a mystery up there with the Bermuda Triangle and Loch Ness Monster, but now looks as if he is enjoying himself again. There was also a ‘Rabona’ cross thrown in during the second half.
Burnley’s Matt Lowton was even losing to headers to Hazard – the right-back won’t have a tougher afternoon for a long time.

2. Blues nail last year’s horror statistic

All together now: The Blues were dominant

Hazard’s return to form might almost be representing Chelsea as a whole, with a surge of optimism running through every part of the club.
The desperate days of last season look a thing of the past, with Antonio Conte having injected his brand of passionate pragmatism into the Premier League.
An extraordinary statistic from last season was that Chelsea did not win back to back home league games throughout the whole campaign.
From the moment Hazard opened the scoring there was never going to be any repeat this term, as Chelsea added victory over Burnley to the earlier one against West Ham.

3. Burnley outclassed but not downcast

Fighting spirit: George Boyd makes a challenge on Diego Costa

Was Burnley’s win over Liverpool a freak, fluke result? That is now the challenge for Sean Dyche and his men now, to prove that it wasn’t.
Against title challengers Chelsea it was men against boys, everything that Burnley fans might have feared after gaining promotion from the Championship.
On the plus side, they won’t be playing a formidable Chelsea every week, and the crucial points for survival or better will come against other lesser teams.
But even the watching and chastened Burnley fan Alastair Campbell would have had trouble spinning this one as anything other than a humbling experience. A boxing fight would have been stopped.

4. Chelsea look balanced once more

Busy: Kante is a fine addition

Chelsea look to have got their balance back. N’Golo Kante, the summer arrival from champions Leicester, appears to the manor born alongside Nemanja Matic mopping up everything that comes through the middle.
And ahead of that pair the trio of Hazard, Oscar and Willian bristled with menace throughout the contest, with Diego Costa up top.
Admittedly the back four, about whom questions have been asked, were not really tested. The ball hardly ever got as far as Andre Gray and Sam Vokes, such was the midfield dominance.
That challenge will surely come against Chelsea’s title rivals and defence remains an area where the Blues are most likely to strengthen before the window closes.

5. Conte a worthy addition to Premier League cast

Good work: Antonio Conte is doing a fine job

It seems clearer that in a Premier League managerial cast list including such luminaries as Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp and Wenger, Conte deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.
His achievements with Juventus were the passport in, but Conte looks to have already won the respect of his Chelsea players, who are putting it all in for the Italian.
Always an animated figure on the touchline, time will give the him the English to better express his ideas and views to both the squad and the media. In the meantime, he isn’t doing too bad.

Player ratings

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois 6; Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 6; Kante 7, Matic 7; Willian 8 (Moses 77, 6), Oscar 7, Hazard 9 (Pedro 80, 6); Costa 8 (Batshuayi 80, 6): Booked: Oscar, Ivanovic. Goals: Hazard 9, Willian 41.
Burnley (4-4-2): Heaton 6; Lowton 4, Keane 5, Mee 6, Ward 5; Boyd 5, Marney 5 (Tarkowski 72, 6), Defour 5 (O’Neill 56, 6), Arfield 6 (Gudmundsson 56, 6); Vokes 5, Gray 5. Booked: Keane.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.

Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea).