Havertz goals help Chelsea hit six past Barnsley

London, Thursday

Frank Lampard said Kai Havertz is just getting started after opening his Chelsea account with a hat-trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Barnsley, while Arsenal also booked their place in the League Cup fourth round with a 2-0 win at Leicester.

Havertz had struggled to make an impact in his first two Premier League games since sealing a reported £71 million ($94 million) move from Bayer Leverkusen as the most expensive signing of Chelsea’s £200 million spending spree in the transfer market.

But the 21-year-old German was one of just three players to retain his place from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool and Lampard’s decision reaped its reward as he scored his first senior hat-trick.

“I am delighted with Kai, it was everything I wanted from him,” said Lampard.

“He had no pre-season so I wanted to give him more time on the pitch with his teammates, learning how we play and press. It was a great night for Kai and it is the first of many for him.”

Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell also made their Chelsea debuts, while Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley made the most of rare starts to get their names on the scoresheet.

Abraham pounced on loose pass deep in the Barnsley half to slam home the opener before Havertz’s calm finish opened his Chelsea account.

A brilliant unselfish flick from Abraham teed Havertz up perfectly to convert his second after Barkley drove home on his weaker left foot.

Havertz was due to be replaced by Chilwell 25 minutes from time but just completed his hat-trick in time by rounding Brad Collins before tapping into an empty net before Olivier Giroud completed the scoring.

“I am very happy to score three goals, but this is just my beginning at the club and I want to score more and more goals,” said Havertz.

Chelsea will face either Tottenham or Leyton Orient in the last 16 with the outcome of that tie yet to be decided after the match was postponed on Tuesday due to a number of coronavirus cases among the Orient players.

Arsenal won the only all-Premier League tie of the night as Christian Fuchs’s own goal broke the deadlock at the King Power.

Eddie Nketiah added a late second for the Gunners, who could face Liverpool at Anfield twice in three days next week should the Premier League champions progress past Lincoln on Thursday.

“It’s the toughest place to go in Europe and the world,” said Gunners boss Mikel Arteta. “Let’s prepare well and see how it goes.” -AFP