Christian Pulisic is loving life at Chelsea after repaying Frank Lampard s faith in him with a hat-trick in the Blues 4-2 win at Burnley.
After being left out of Chelsea s Premier League starting line-ups since August, Pulisic was drafted in for Callum Hudson-Odoi at Turf Moor and scored the opening goal of the game after 21 minutes.
The 21-year-old, who provided an assist for fellow substitute Michy Batshuayi s goal in a 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax in midweek, doubled Chelsea s lead on the cusp of half-time and scored again after 56 minutes to become the club s youngest hat-trick scorer the Premier League era.
Pulisic picked out his first goal a low, angled drive from 12 yards after a neat piece of skill inside the box as his favourite of the three but was quick to credit his team-mates for the victory.
The goals were amazing today, said Pulisic. It was a really good team performance.
I just wish in the end we could have got the clean sheet. I lost the ball [for Burnley s first goal], which I m not happy with, so I can still improve.
It’s incredible, these guys are so much fun to play with, they bring so much energy. I m enjoying every moment of it.
That. Felt. Good.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Chelsea paid Borussia Dortmund £58million (€64m) for Pulisic in January before loaning him back to the Bundesliga side until the end of 2018-19.
Since arriving at Stamford Bridge he has made seven league appearances, including four starts, and the USA international said the stop-start nature of his first season at the club has not dulled his enthusiasm.
I came to the team and wanted to make an impact, said Pulisic.
It didn t happen right away but I want to work.
We re on a roll, we re taking it game by game. The next focus is midweek [Chelsea face Manchester United in the League Cup on Wednesday] and we ll go from there.
