LONDON (AP) — Thomas Tuchel secured his first win as Chelsea manager as his team beat Burnley 2-0 in the Premier League thanks to goals by Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso on Sunday.
After beginning his tenure with a 0-0 draw against Wolverhampton at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, Tuchel again saw his Chelsea players dominate possession against another team that struggles to score goals.
They finally found a cutting edge this time, though, as Callum Hudson-Odoi ran at the Burnley defense on the right before setting up Azpilicueta — on the overlap — to smash a rising shot past goalkeeper Nick Pope in the 40th minute.
Hudson-Odoi struck a deflected effort against the post early in the second half as Burnley struggled to get out of its own half, before Alonso collected a short pass from substitute Christian Pulisic and powered a volley in off the underside of the crossbar in the 84th.
Chelsea climbed to seventh place but the opposition will get tougher for Tuchel, with his next game at Tottenham on Thursday.
Tuchel, who replaced the fired Frank Lampard on Tuesday, appears ready to give every member of Chelsea’s large squad a chance to stake a claim for a starting spot. After making a raft of changes against Wolves — and also switching formation to 3-4-2-1 — he tinkered again by restoring Timo Werner, Mason Mount, Alonso and Tammy Abraham to the lineup and leaving out playmaker Hakim Ziyech from the matchday squad altogether.
The German coach seems settled on a three-man backline of Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger, while Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic have started both games under Tuchel. The other places in the team look up for grabs, though.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
