Chelsea edged out Burnley 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Stamford Bridge for Thomas Tuchel’s first win as their manager and only their second Premier League win of 2021.
However, there were still many causes for concern as the much-changed attack from the 0-0 draw with Wolves – Tuchel’s first game in charge – struggled to hit the back of the net, having almost 20 shots at goal.
They finally made a breakthrough a few minutes before half-time when Jorginho’s pass from deep opened space for Mason Mount to run into past the halfway line, before him and Callum Hudson-Odoi quickly shifted the ball across for the onrushing Cesar Azpilicueta to rifle home from close range.
However, despite the introduction of Christian Pulisic at half-time, their woes in front of goal persisted until the 84th minute when his dinked ball into the box was volleyed home by Marcos Alonso.
It was a fitting way to mark his first game for Chelsea since he fell out with Frank Lampard on 26th December at half-time against West Brom.
Though Burnley made themselves characteristically hard to break down and appeared to be brimming with confidence in the first half, they were ultimately overwhelmed by Chelsea and the only chance they created was James Tarkowski’s header from a corner deep into injury time.
That was minutes after debutant Joel Mumbongo hit the post for what would have been their best chance of the game if he had not been subsequently ruled offside.
The win means Chelsea rise to seventh in the table, albeit with Everton and Aston Villa in eighth and ninth respectively having two games in hand each, and face Tottenham next Thursday.
Burnley, on the other hand, fall to sixteenth and have another tricky game on Wednesday against Manchester City.