Kai Havertz Opens Chelsea Account With League Cup Hat Trick

Kai Havertz enjoyed his first Chelsea goal so much, he went on and scored two more.

Havertz, Chelsea's record $92 million summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen, scored the first senior hat trick of his career in Wednesday's 6-0 romp over Barnsley in the League Cup.

Havertz was held scoreless in his first two appearances for the Blues (both in Premier League play), but he broke out against his second-tier opposition in a big way.

For his first, he was the beneficiary of a lovely dummy from Tammy Abraham on Mason Mount's pass, finishing from close range to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead in the 28th minute, after Abraham had opened the scoring nine minutes prior.

Ross Barkley scored Chelsea's third before Havertz capped his hat trick with a second-half double.

Abraham assisted both strikes. In the 55th minute, his lovely layoff after Chelsea had won the ball back in Barnsley's own third set up Havertz for a clinical finish.

In the 65th, Abraham clipped the ball forward as Havertz ran in behind the back line, and he rounded the onrushing goalkeeper before easily tapping into the vacated net.

Olivier Giroud came off the bench and capped the rout with Chelsea's sixth of the day, assisted by another new Chelsea signing, Ben Chilwell. Thiago Silva also debuted on the day for the Blues. Chelsea will be seeking more goals from Havertz with the stakes considerably higher as the season progresses, but he'll surely take some added confidence by having his first three goals for the club in the bank.

"I am delighted with Kai," Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said. "It was everything I wanted from him, he had no preseason. It was a great night for Kai and it is the first of many for him."

Havertz rose to prominence with Bayer Leverkusen, especially in the last two seasons, when he combined to score 38 goals in all competitions. His next chance to pad his Chelsea total comes quickly, with the club to play at promoted side West Brom on Saturday. As for the League Cup, Chelsea advances to the fourth round, where it will face either Leyton Orient or Tottenham. Their third-round match was postponed after Leyton Orient was hit by a number of positive coronavirus tests. No determination has been made yet as to when it will be played.