Chelsea: Four lessons learned about Christensen, Barkley and Hudson-Odoi

Chelsea comfortably dispatched Burnley 3-0 to maintain their five point lead over fifth placed Manchester United. What lessons were learned?

Frank Lampard and Chelsea finally have a clean sheet and, more importantly, three points at home after a pair of goalless defeats in the Premier League. Burnley, who had won four points from their last two visits to Stamford Bridge, was defeated thanks to goals from Jorginho, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Here are the four things learned from the fixture.

1. Do not underestimate Andreas Christensen

The past few games have seen Chelsea attracting opposition attacks from their own errors. For all his decent performances, there are too many silly mistakes from Kurt Zouma. Even Fikayo Tomori is not safe from those. No matter how much possession Chelsea has, those mistakes create opportunities for the opponent to attack.

But with Christensen, there is a calmness in Chelsea’s defense. His reading of the game takes away any vacant space for the opponent to run into. It also offers proper freedom for Cesar Azpilicueta to move forward.

With Christensen, goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga looked more confident. Antonio Rudiger did not have to watch out for his partner and therefore get into trouble himself.

The Dane also put in extra work on his physical abilities as well. No Chelsea player was involved in more aerial duels than him. For Lampard to mount a challenge for titles, he needs to believe in Christensen. If there is a successor for John Terry, it is him.