Burnley's poor recent form in the Premier League continued with a fourth straight defeat, which leaves the Clarets just four points clear of the relegation zone. The win for Chelsea maintain their five-point gap over fifth-placed Manchester United.
Frank Lampard's side had to be patient during the opening stages of the contest, but they were eventually given the chance to open the scoring inside the 27th minute, with Jorginho calmly converting from the spot. Tammy Abraham added a second seven minutes before the break and Callum Hudson-Odoi sealed the win just after half time.
Story of the Match
Sean Dyche's side got off to reasonably good start with the Clarets maintaining a solid shape and showing signs they could pose problems from set pieces. Jeff Hendrick nodded home after Ben Mee had headed Dwight McNeil's dangerous delivery across the face of goal, but Mee was judged to have been offside by VAR even though replays showed it was an extremely tight decision.
Chelsea took advantage of that let off. Matthew Lowton, who had been brought into the side for Phil Bardsley, made a sliding challenge on Willian in the penalty area and made contact with the Brazilian who was already on the way over. Jorginho converted from the penalty spot to put Lampard's side in front with a typically well taken penalty.
Burnley did offer a response and were nearly back on level terms with McNeil first being denied by Kepa Arrizabalaga following a long-range free kick, and Mee's effort was cleared off the line by Ross Barkley following a corner as the Clarets continued to threaten from dead ball situations.
Lampard's side, though, weathered that slight period of pressure from Burnley and ensured they would go into the break with a two-goal cushion, with Reece James' cross picking out Abraham inside the box and the striker's header somehow found its way past Pope, which gave Chelsea a commanding lead heading into the second period.
Chelsea managed to put the game well beyond their visitors just four minutes into the second half, with Hudson-Odoi putting the ball beyond Pope from Mason Mount's cross, and despite a slight delay following a check from VAR to see whether if Abraham had made contact with the ball from an offside position before Hudson-Odoi turned the ball home Lampard's side were awarded their third.
Dyche's side attempted to get themselves a foothold back into the game during the rest of the second half, but the best chances fell the way of Chelsea, with Abraham being denied by a fine save from Pope following his near post headed, before the striker headed a presentable chance wide of the target following another dangerous ball in from Mount, as Chelsea claimed a comfortable win.
Takeaways from the match
Burnley's miserable run against top half teams continues
Burnley's defeat at Chelsea meant they have taken just a single point from their eleven matches against sides currently in the top half of the table so far this campaign, with their only point coming in a 1-1 draw at Wolves back in August, which will be a real concern considering the Clarets' next three games are all against sides currently in the top half.
The Clarets have really struggled at both ends of the pitch against the teams in the top half of the table so far this campaign, and that was again evident at Stamford Bridge, with Burnley not really creating anything of note from open play throughout the 90 minutes and relying on set pieces to cause Chelsea problems.
Burnley were also guilty of making individual errors at the back, which has been creeping into their game more and more over the last few months, with all three of the goals they conceded avoidable from Dyche's sides point of view, with the first two in particular errors from Lowton bringing down Willian for the first, Pope not doing enough to keep out Abraham's header for the second.
That is something that they will need to change if they are going to be able to start picking up some more points from matches against teams in the top half of the table, which they will need to do if they are to end their four match losing run over the next few weeks.
Clarets lacking squad depth at the moment
Against Chelsea, Dyche was forced to name five defenders on the bench, with the likes of Ashley Barnes, Johan Berg Gudmundsson, Robbie Brady and Jay Rodriguez all missing through injury or illness, which highlights how stretched Burnley's squad is at the moment and that will pose a real problem for the Clarets as they look to recover their form.
That suggests Burnley could well be needing to dip into the transfer market this month to help bring in some added quality and numbers, with the Clarets in particular lacking in enough creative players in midfield, and what they do in the transfer window could well determine whether they are able to survive this season.
Up next
Burnley will be looking to get back on track next weekend when they host Leicester City at Turf Moor next Sunday, before they then face Manchester United and Arsenal in the Premier League, while Chelsea will be looking to build on their win when they travel to Newcastle United next Saturday.