Burnley, England: Chelsea’s American forward Christian Pulisic scored his first Premier League goals for the club with a hat-trick and Willian added another in an entertaining 4-2 win at Burnley yesterday.
Pulisic, who made his first league start since Aug. 31, was on target twice in the first half and made it 3-0 with a sublime header after the break before Willian got the fourth, stretching Chelsea’s streak to seven successive wins in all competitions.
The win left Chelsea fourth on 20 points from 10 games while Burnley are 11th on 12 points after a tepid performance in their 200th Premier League fixture and 100th at Turf Moor.
The 21-year-old Pulisic, who became the youngest Chelsea player to score a hat-trick, fired the visitors ahead in the 21st minute after shaking off two defenders and doubled their advantage with a deflected shot on the stroke of halftime.
The US international capped a stellar performance in the 56th before the lively Willian fired an arrowed shot into the far corner from 12 metres after neat footwork in the area.
Chelsea then had a penalty rescinded after a VAR check before Burnley scored two late goals, as Jay Rodriguez rifled in a piledriver from 25 metres in the 86th minute and Dwight McNeil drove home a deflected effort three minutes later.
Earlier, three second-half goals ensured Manchester City climbed back into second place behind leaders Liverpool after a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.
Defender Lucas Digne’s own goal deep into stoppage time completed a superb comeback by Brighton to give them a thrilling 3-2 win over Everton.
Watford’s winless run since the start of their campaign stretched to 10 games when they played out a 0-0 draw against Bournemouth at Vicarage Road but they had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for a rare clean sheet.
Lys Mousset’s second goal in as many games earned Sheffield United a 1-1 draw at West Ham United, with the point sending the newly-promoted side seventh.
City struggled to get going in the first half, with Villa having several chances to break the deadlock in the pouring Manchester rain.
However, the home side wasted no time after regrouping at the interval as Raheem Sterling latched on to a Gabriel Jesus flick before firing City in front 20 seconds into the second half with his 13th goal of the season.
Jesus then almost grabbed a quick-fire second but Tyrone Mings cleared off the line, before David Silva found the net in the 65th minute, getting the faintest of touches to a Kevin De Bruyne cross.
Five minutes later Ilkay Gundogan made sure of another three points for City after he reacted first to a blocked shot to scissor-kick his strike into the net.
The result sees City climb back above Leicester City – after their record-equalling 9-0 victory at Southampton on Friday – with 22 points.