Chelsea vs Burnley result: Five things we learned as Callum Hudson-Odoi shines in Thomas Tuchel’s first win

Chelsea 2-0 Burnley: Tuchel gets his first win courtesy of Azpilicueta and Alonso

(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Chelsea picked up a first win under Thomas Tuchel thanks to a 1-0 win over Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Blues were largely dominant throughout, despite a decent start to the game from the Clarets, but Sean Dyche’s side didn’t create too many openings in their best spells of the game. Mateo Kovacic sent a shot on-target and Mason Mount sent a couple of efforts over in the early chances for the home team.

It was Cesar Azpilicueta who netted the first goal under the new manager, firing in after Callum Hudson-Odoi freed him in the box, while Timo Werner had a couple of sights of goal too - only to mis-time his finishes.

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Burnley never really threatened an equaliser in truth and Hudson-Odoi rattled the post as the home side pressed for a second, but it was wing-back Marcos Alonso who eventually sealed the win with a spectacular volley.

Here are five things we learned from the match at Stamford Bridge.

Timo trials

Presumably, job No. 1 for Tuchel coming into this job - aside from getting a Champions League spot - is to improve the fortunes of big-money German duo Kai Havertz and Timo Werner.

The former Leverkusen man didn’t play from the start this time, but Werner had half a game in a support role from the left, then the second half as the main centre-forward.

He spurned several shooting chances: missing the ball entirely once, weakly shooting at Pope once, nodding on target and seeing another blocked.

It sounds bad - it wasn’t. He was, all things considered, not bad. The work rate was there, the link play improved as the game went on, he took up good positions in the area and he was on the shoulder of the defence whenever possible. It doesn’t look a million miles away from clicking for the former Leipzig forward, and confidence could come flooding back.

Chances for squad players

Tuchel rotated for his second game, giving all his squad the chance to impress early on - to mixed results.

Tammy Abraham didn’t have much of an impact as the No. 9, but only played 45 minutes. Marcos Alonso didn’t fare too much better down the left for most of the game, but is of course lacking rhythm after so little action this term - then belted in an outrageous killer second to add some gloss and serve a reminder of his attacking ability.

More impressive was Mason Mount, back in the line-up and busy as ever, even if the finishing pass or touch was missing on this occasion.

Tuchel clearly is happy to do what most managers do and offer a clean start for all, but a settled line-up will quickly emerge so impressive quick performances are vital.

Burnley below-par

Despite the positive start in terms of pressing high and trying to take the game to the home team, Burnley achieved very little in this game in truth.

They totalled less than 30 per cent possession, had a single corner and no shots at all until the 93rd minute - a dismal lack of attacking verve.

Back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Villa have eased any immediate relegation fears, so perhaps this was a pressure-valve release game and Dyche will simply tell them to move on quickly - it’s Man City next.

Tuchel’s early stars

The star starters, as far as Chelsea’s players were concerned, were Mateo Kovacic and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

In midfield, the Croatian has been the tempo-setter for Tuchel’s first two games, spraying passes around and finding the spaces in the final third to send clever balls into the forwards and keep the Blues on the front foot.

Hudson-Odoi, though, is the outlet with the end product right now.

His pace stretched the defence and his final ball was habitually good, claiming another assist and almost scoring himself.

Top-four chase

Chelsea up from 10th to seventh with this win - level on points with Spurs, ahead of their Sunday night game.

There are too many variables to worry about the gap to the top four in the short term; all that matters is that Chelsea have picked up four points from two games and have quickly taken the first steps in the right direction.

None conceded either in those games - and a finishing touch was, importantly, on show this time.