BARKLEY CONTINUES EXCELLENT FORM AS CHELSEA THUMP CLARETS

Ross Barkley scored his third goal in as many games to help Chelsea move second in the Premier League after a 3-0 win at Burnley.

A first-half goal from Alvaro Morata opened the scoring for the Blues at Turf Moor, Barkley continued his great form with a second for Chelsea and Willian wrapped the match up shortly after.

Chelsea move up to second above Manchester City, who play tomorrow night, with Burnley staying in 14th.

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Chelsea took the lead just over 20 minutes into the game, when Ross Barkley's through ball was met by Morata, who slid home into the bottom right corner.

Source: Daily Express

The Blues were in the lead, but suffered a blow not long after when Pedro was struggling with an injury and had to be replaced by Thursday's hat-trick hero Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Morata had a couple of decent chances later in the first-half, but couldn't add to his tally and the Clarets were still in the game going into the break.

Barkley made it three goals in three games shortly after half-time, when the England midfielder picked up the ball and fired one in from 20-yards out.

Willian was on hand to further Chelsea's advantage shortly after and put the game beyond Burnley's reach. Chelsea were turning it on at Turf Moor.

Chelsea wrapped up the scoring late on when substitute Loftus-Cheek latched onto a deflected Marcos Alonso backheel and finished well from close-range.

A great day for the Blues, who move above City into second place.

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Sean Dyche believes his team could do nothing in the past two games, where they've been thumped by Manchester City and Chelsea.

"On reflection, we have played two top sides back to back in City and Chelsea, who have delivered top performances and it's hard to deal with that," Dyche said.

"It was a top side doing what top sides do; they finish clinically. Ever since Leicester threw the form book out of the window, the superpowers have moved forwards.

"They have deeper squads, and it is getting more difficult to compete. If you look at the table, the only real anomaly at the moment is Manchester United."