Amid the alleged infractions that marred Chelsea's visit to Turf Moor, Frank Lampard called on his Chelsea ward to just celebrate the 4-2 road win against Burnley, which was highlighted by perfect hat-trick scored by Blues forward Christian Pulisic. The win marked the seventh by the London club in all competition.
Chelsea was cruising on a convincing win, but the game found a bit more of texture when Callum Hudson-Odoi was booked for diving that was later overruled by a VAR review. Lampard himself saw the violation as far from "clean-cut," as he made clear he would be the first to point out the mistake to his player.
"If I felt like it was a dive, I'd speak to Callum and say that's not what we're about," The Daily Mail reported the Chelsea boss as saying.
On the other side of the fence, Burnley manager Sean Dyche thought that if diving was indeed present during the match, league officials should come down hard on dealing with the issue. Diving should be seen as "shambolic" that turns the beautiful game of football ugly, Dyche said.
No matter what happened, Lampard said his Chelsea boys have all the reasons to celebrate the win. He admitted some of the players felt the game while won was not a clean sheet, prompting them to think there were reasons not to be happy.
However, Lampard said there was nothing sloppy at all in the winning game.
"Because the way they played, the personality they had on the ball, the movement of the ball, there were so many great things there that I'm not going to allow it in the dressing room," Metro reported the Chelsea chief as saying.
Lampard said he reminded the players that they went to a tough place to play, and they played amazing football and registered a comfortable win. So there is no reason at all to feel upset.
More so in the case of Pulisic. The USA international wrote personal history by essaying a perfect hat-trick, and his feat all but swayed the game for Chelsea with several more minutes into the match, Sky Sports reported.
Pulisic said he was boosted by the confidence given to him by Lampard.
"You have to keep working hard in training and earn my spot, that's how it is at the highest level. I'm going to continue to do so. This is hopefully just the start," he was reported as saying.
"It's not always that easy. So I came in had to work for my spot just like everyone does. I'm proud of the journey I've had so far," Pulisic added.
Pulisic making his presence felt in the Premier League via the perfect hat-trick somehow is just starting to justify the £58 million Chelsea paid to bring him over. Hopefully, too, it will quiet down the simmering questions on Pulisic having a spot on the club's first-team.
