Tony Cascarino believes Frank Lampard has done what nobody thought would be possible and made Chelsea better without Eden Hazard.
The Blues sealed their seventh consecutive victory in all competitions on Saturday with a convincing 4-2 win at Burnley, despite the absence of several key players.
Hazard’s summer move to Real Madrid has been compounded by the prolonged injury problems of N’Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger, plus the small matter of their transfer embargo.
But you’d hardly have noticed under Lampard, who has seamlessly introduced academy stars such as Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham to fill the void.
Meanwhile, Christian Pulisic, 21, announced himself as the potential successor to Hazard with a perfect hat-trick at Turf Moor on Saturday.
Cascarino told talkSPORT: “You can have one player who is so good for you that you’re so reliant on him and you keep giving him the ball.
“Now you can give it to Mason Mount, he might create something for Tammy Abraham, Jorginho is getting on the ball far more.
“Let’s remember who’s not playing for Chelsea at the moment: N’Golo Kante, their best defender Antonio Rudiger.
“So you have to turn back and think there’s a lot that he [Lampard] is getting right and the team is reacting to a lot of big players that aren’t at the club or not playing.”
Kante and Rudiger weren’t the only players missing for Chelsea yesterday, they were also without Ross Barkley, Andreas Christensen and long-term absentee Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Add that to their exhausting 1-0 victory at Ajax on Wednesday and the win over Burnley becomes even more impressive.
Pulisic netted with his left-foot, right-foot and head before Willian made it four, and two late goals from Jay Rodriguez and Dwight McNeil did little to dampen to visitors’ mood.
