Christian Pulisic has scored his first three Premier League goals after being handed the start for Chelsea against Burnley on Saturday, helping to stake his team to a 4-0 lead with a hat trick.

The U.S. international was named in the starting XI after his impactful role off the substitutes' bench in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday.

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Pulisic had struggled for minutes since arriving at Stamford Bridge in the summer following his €64 million transfer from Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, but he made his mark in the first half against Burnley.

Both of the 21-year old's goals came off stellar individual efforts following hard-charging runs from the midfield. The first was a left-footed shot after Pulisic had beat his defender in the penalty area and the second was an equally impressive finish, this time with his right foot and with the help of a deflection off Burnley defender Ben Mee.

The pair of goals staked Chelsea to a 2-0 lead at half-time as the Blues look to maintain their spot in the top four of the Premier League table.

Pulisic added his third early in the second half and Willain added another to give Chelsea a comfortable lead at Turf Moor.

The American becomes just the second player from the U.S. to score a hat trick in the Premier League, joining Clint Dempsey, who did it in 2012 for Fulham in a match against Newcastle.

As an added bonus, Pulisic scored a goal with his right foot, his left foot and from a header, making it a perfect hat trick to become the first Chelsea player to complete the feat since Didier Drogba did against Wigan in May 2010.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard addressed Pulisic's lack of playing time earlier in October, saying he had to make "harsh" decisions in his liineup sometimes, but added his time would come.

Lampard said: "Sometimes I have to make harsh decisions and say something that I see can help their game but might not sound that nice because I want them to be the best, all of them. That's what I want them to be. That's part of the process.

"Christian Pulisic has a price tag. Ross Barkley is an international player. Mason Mount is an international player, Callum Hudson-Odoi just signed a new contract, Bayern Munich wanted to buy him last summer. He's an international player."

Kevin Pelton's NBA mailbag is back, featuring your questions on an experiment using a single free throw attempt for all points, Russell Westbrook's shooting numbers, the best way to enforce 3-point shooting fouls and how scoring relates to win projections.

You can tweet your questions using the hashtag #peltonmailbag or email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We'd expect fewer points per FTA then, right, since players are more likely to miss their first? Or do you expect the added value of the shot will generate 2nd-shot like focus?

— Manzell dot Beezy (@ManzellBeezy) September 26, 2019

This question stems from the discussion about the NBA experimenting with a single free throw for all points this season in the G League, as first reported last month by my colleague Zach Lowe. It's well established that this change would diminish scoring because players are historically more likely to make the second free throw of a trip to the line than the first one, but I wanted to dig deeper on how much that might matter.

With the help of ESPN Stats & Information research, I went through every free throw shot in the league during the 2018-19 regular season. As expected, players did shoot better on the second attempt (78.9%) than the first (73.6%). To explore further, I treated players' shooting on the first of two attempts as their "base" free throw percentage and then used this to get what we'd expect them to shoot on a variety of different attempts. (This adjustment is necessary because three-shot fouls and technical free throws typically go to better shooters.) That yields the following results for types of free throws attempted at least 100 times last season.

(To answer one question before you ask it: There are slightly fewer second free throws than first ones because of lane violations that wipe out the second attempt.)

Looking over all these free throws, the value of repetition is clear. I recall theorizing that players shot worse on technical free throws than overall because the circumstances were different without any other players on the line, but it turns out this isn't the case at all. They shoot worse simply because technicals are typically the first free throw taken. (I separated out cases where the same player shot multiple consecutive free throws, a tiny sample but one on which they did shoot better on the second attempt.) It's also intriguing that players actually shot worse last season on the third free throw on a 3-point foul than the second, which certainly might be noise in the data.

If players shoot the way they do on the first of two attempts, we'd expect shooting a single free throw for all points to reduce the value of a two-shot foul from 1.52 points per play to 1.47 and a three-shot foul from 2.55 points per play to 2.4 points per play. Overall, this would reduce scoring efficiency by about 0.5 points per 100 possessions once we factor in additional offensive rebounds -- probably not a noticeable difference to the naked eye, but a real one nonetheless.

"I had a realization after listening to a story about James Harden and how getting fouled on a 3-pointer is now the most valuable shot in basketball. Right now the free throw average is about 75% for the NBA so a foul on a 2-point shot is worth ~1.5 points, but ~2.25 for a 3-pointer! This difference incentivizes one of everyone's biggest complaints about the NBA -- flailing appendages on 3-point attempts. It seems to me that giving only two foul shots on a 3-pointer is fair and would reduce the incentive to draw fouls." - Michael Lutter

Taking up a similar topic, my analysis of the first question shows this back-of-the-envelope calculation undervalues a three-shot foul in practice because players fouled in the act of shooting 3s are naturally better 3-point shooters. The actual 2.55 points per play on three-shot fouls is equivalent to shooting 85% on a 3-point attempt and an impossible 127% on a 2-point attempt.

The tricky line to walk on shooting fouls is we want them to be at least valuable enough to keep defenses from exploiting them by fouling intentionally without making them so valuable that offenses desperately seek them. We've probably hit the latter extreme with three-shot fouls. Could we return to two free throws for a shooting foul beyond the arc -- the rule from the introduction of the 3-point line through 1993-94 -- without going too far in the opposite direction?

I think the answer is yes. A shooting foul on a 3 would still be worth about 1.7 points on average, equivalent to making 56% of 3-pointers. According to Second Spectrum tracking, that's still way better than what the average player shot last season on the easiest possible 3-pointers -- uncontested catch-and-shoot attempts from the corner, hit 43.1% of the time. As long as we went back to three shots on a 3-point shooting foul in the final two minutes to prevent teams from fouling intentionally when up by three, I'd endorse this rule change.

#peltonmailbag What do you project Westbrook to shoot from the line this year? Going from .845 to .656 in 2 seasons seems unprecedented.

— Moneyball16 (@Moneyball16) August 29, 2019

Staying on the free throw theme ... the short answer here is my SCHOENE projection system forecast 73.5% shooting from Westbrook, about what he shot two seasons ago (73.7%) and also close to the average of his previous three seasons (74.6%).

Now the long answer. Westbrook's decline isn't really unprecedented. Among players who have shot at least 100 free throw attempts two seasons apart since the ABA-NBA merger, the 18.9% difference between his 2016-17 and 2018-19 accuracy ranks just 15th largest. What is unusual is Westbrook doing so while attempting so many free throws. If we increase the sample to at least 400 attempts both seasons, only Tim Duncan from 2001-02 through 2003-04 (79.9% to 59.9%) has fallen off more since the merger.

History suggests some level of regression to the mean is likely. Returning to the larger sample of players who shot at least 100 free throws in Year 1, Year 3 and Year 4, that group saw their free throw percentages improve by an average of 9.5%. Add that to what Westbrook shot last season and you get 75.1%, again in the same ballpark as SCHOENE's projection. Odds are Westbrook will be a worse foul shooter than he was through 2016-17 (when he hit at least 80% of his free throws in all but one of his NBA campaigns) but a substantially better one than last season.

"Is one point per game still thought of as worth 2.7 wins?" - David Locke

The Utah Jazz's radio broadcaster is referring to a rule of thumb that I believe John Hollinger of the Athletic popularized that each extra point per game in differential will typically translate to 2.7 wins over a full season. This formula gets used less frequently than Pythagorean wins, which is a more accurate predictor of win percentage at the extremes because it takes into account the total points scored per game in addition to differential. The difference in predictive accuracy is marginal, however, and having a value of one point per game in terms of wins is useful conceptually.

As it turns out, 2.7 wins might overstate the value of one point per game of differential now that games are higher scoring. Looking year by year at the relationship between differential and record, one point per game has indeed been worth 2.7 wins on average over the past two and a half decades (prorating the two lockout-shortened seasons to 82 games). But the last time it reached this mark was 2014-15, and last season's 2.4 wins per additional point was the lowest mark in that span.

Rationally, the more total points scored, the less important one additional point will be, and there's a linear -- albeit imperfect -- relationship between leaguewide points per game and the value of a point. Based on that, you'd expect an additional point per game to be worth about 2.5 wins given last season's scoring average. So I'd go with that as a value for now.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen is angered by a question about his side's attitude following their shock Rugby World Cup semi-final defeat by England.

WATCH MORE: Watch best moments as England beat All Blacks to reach World Cup final

Follow text & BBC Radio 5 Live commentary of the Ruby World Cup semi-final between Wales v South Africa on the BBC Sport website & app from 09:00 GMT on Sunday, 27 October.

Captain Owen Farrell says England planned their response to the haka to show New Zealand they would not have things all their own way in their Rugby World Cup semi-final.

England's players lined up in a V formation to receive the challenge, with Farrell seemingly smiling during the All Blacks' performance.

"We didn't just want to stand in a flat line and let them come at us," he said.

England scored a try within two minutes, eventually winning 19-7.

They will play either Wales or South Africa, who contest the second semi-final on Sunday, in next Saturday's final.

The tone for a ferocious encounter was set when England broke from the customary shoulder-to-shoulder stance and instead lined up in a V shape, with two prongs projecting towards the New Zealanders, to receive the haka.

World Rugby rules stipulate teams must remain within their own half of the pitch to receive the challenge and referee Nigel Owens and his team had to usher several England players back as they strayed over halfway.

"Everyone wanted to show that we were ready and together. It was something different that I think Eddie [Jones] suggested," said centre Manu Tuilagi.

"We wanted to go at them early doors and that is the first part of the game, isn't it?" added flanker Tom Curry.

While New Zealand captain Kieran Read said England's haka reception had "no impact" on the match, All Black scrum-half Aaron Smith admitted the sight of Farrell spurred him on during the pre-match display.

"The All Blacks have been doing it for 110 years," he said. "It's about us; I didn't really notice them.

"I was looking at the guy straight opposite me and that was Owen Farrell. He was giving me a few winks so I was trying to scare him as much as I could."

It is not the first time that New Zealand's opponents have faced down the haka with a challenge of their own.

The last time that the three-time winners lost a World Cup match was in 2007 when France, wearing red, white and blue T-shirts to form their national flag, advanced as one to eyeball the All Blacks.

They won the quarter-final 20-18.

This time, against New Zealand in a stone-cold World Cup classic, there was no need to go to boundaries scored.

If England have ever produced a better 80 minutes of rugby union then no-one dancing round Yokohama or screaming the sofas down back home could care to remember it.

It was supposed to be close. It was supposed to be the All Blacks, because it is almost always the All Blacks, going back through the years at Twickenham and Auckland and all points in between.

And yet it was comfortable, in an excruciating sort of way, if you ignore the dread tension of being up and ahead from the second minute against a side who routinely make late comebacks like other teams make touch.

And if you could watch George Ford's penalties arcing towards the posts while still breathing, and watch the percussive demolition hits of Sam Underhill, Tom Curry and Maro Itoje without grabbing your own ribs and wincing.

From the first minute to the last England were demonstrably the superior team. There's a decent argument they also won the time before then too; when you can stare down the haka and grin, as Owen Farrell did, or stroll towards it like a man off to the bar, as Joe Marler did. There was no fear when so many down the years have quaked.

Never before have New Zealand conceded a World Cup try as early as Manu Tuilagi's second-minute score. Only once before have they been kept scoreless in the first half of a World Cup match.

It is 18 games - across 12 years - since they were beaten in this tournament, and this was only a second loss to England in 17 meetings. Yet on a night of the gloriously strange, the most nonsensical stat of all was also among the most startling: the three-time world champions scored fewer points than Leicester did away goals against Southampton the night before.

To tip the All Blacks from their throne, even the most ebullient among England's support thought half their team would have to produce the finest performance of their lives.

And so it came to pass: Ford and Underhill and Curry and Itoje all at dreamy, terrifying peak that left black shirts retreating and panicking and doing all the things they usually dish out to others.

Steve Hansen picked Scott Barrett to dominate the line-out. England owned the airwaves instead, except for the one ghastly moment when Ardie Savea was gifted the chance to bring a game that could have been 17 points distant back to a six-pointer.

The biggest Barrett was hooked at half-time, Sam Cane thrown on with the game half-gone, the Kiwi breakdown a shellshocked mess. Curry and Underhill went at the wreckage like some kind of demonic twins.

There was nothing kamikaze about it. It was the death-knell instead for a team that had cut Ireland apart in the quarter-finals with quick ball and who love to slow that of their opposition so they can get up fast and flat and shut everything else off.

In total England won 16 turnovers. No team has won more at this World Cup. The last time England managed as many in the tournament was back in 1987, against Japan, when there were 4,893 spectators watching, which gives you some sort of idea how remarkable the comparison is.

Breakdown won, set-piece won, discipline won. England conceded just six penalties to the All Blacks' 11.

But it was impossible to find an area in which England were not out in front. They were faster and they were more precise. They kicked from hand better, and they tackled in the way that wrecking-balls meet walls.

The team got it all right and so did their coach Eddie Jones. Right in bringing back Ford, right in resisting the temptation to buttress his line-out with another jumper in place of the relentless Curry, right with the conditioning that allowed his picks to keep going at a pace that first stretched the black-shirted resolve and then broke it.

A first World Cup final since 2007 but done in such a contrasting way.

England in Paris 12 years ago were a gutsy collection of old warriors and stalwarts who refused to beaten. They won games through the last true international hurrah of Jonny Wilkinson and disbanded quietly once coldly dismantled by South Africa in the final.

This is a young team that is accelerating into world-beating maturity before our eyes, a squad that shipped 31 second-half points against Scotland as recently as last March and finished a dismal fifth in the Six Nations a year before, now pushing back fresh boundaries with every game that comes.

The only England team to ever win the Webb-Ellis trophy arrived at the tournament in 2003 as the best team in the world and held their position on the curve just long enough to make it count when it truly mattered.

This one shows no sign of stalling. Jones has had some luck in having Tuilagi and both Vunipolas fit when Stuart Lancaster lost two of the three four years ago. He has reaped the harvest that Lancaster sowed in giving debuts to a young Farrell, and Ford, and May, and Slade.

But he is taking that raw mix and turning it into something special. At a time of financial crisis the RFU bet the house on Jones. He has now narrowed the odds in a way that many doubted he could.

No-one is remembered for winning a semi-final. Should all this momentum, hope and belief come crashing down in the same stadium in a week's time then Saturday's triumph will fade and pale.

Yet as Hey Jude and Wonderwall blasted out around the two tiers of blue seats on Saturday evening, and white shirts in the stands cavorted and bellowed along, it was all about the now and this night.

The kings are dead, their throne empty. Next week can wait for another dawn.

PINE HALL, N.C. – A dirt late model competitor died on Friday following an incident at North Carolina’s 311 Motor Speedway.

Keith Jacobs, a competitor in the 604 late model division, was believed to have suffered a medical emergency while behind the wheel of his race car on Friday night.

According to a report from WFMY News 2, track owner Mike Fulp said witnesses saw Jacobs slumped over in his car moments before his car crashed head-on into a wall at the track.

Local emergency officials were called to the track, and Fulp later confirmed via the track’s official Facebook page that Jacobs had died.

“Everyone please keep the Jacobs family in your thoughts and prayers tonight as 311 Speedway has lost a legend Indian Outlaw Keith Jacobs,” the Facebook post read. “Godspeed my friend. 311 Speedway is going to dedicate Saturday night to the Indian Outlaw Keith Jacobs. Also all of the 50/50 tickets that are sold Saturday night will go to the Jacobs Family.”

Friday’s event was night one of two-night weekend also featuring the Schaeffer’s Oil Fall Nationals Series, with $10,000 going to the winner of the main event on Saturday night.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Fresh off winning the ARCA Menards Series championship eight days earlier, Christian Eckes rolled to the pole for the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 on Saturday morning at Martinsville Speedway.

Driving the No. 51 SiriusXM Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Eckes rolled to a lap of 19.844 seconds (95.424 mph) around the .526-mile paper clip, backing up his leading effort from opening practice on Friday.

The pole is the third of Eckes’ Truck Series career in 11 starts, and he’ll chase his first series win on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know how we got that, to be honest,” Eckes admitted. “It’s so slick out here with how hard the tires are and how this race track is when it’s cold that I actually drove pretty slow right there.

“Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and the guys did a great job,” he added. “We struggled in second practice and kind of threw everything at it, so I’m glad all that worked out for us. It’s the third time we’ve won the pole; it’s great to be with this team and I’m really looking forward to the race this afternoon.”

Defending Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt will join Eckes on the front row, after a time of 19.860 seconds (95.347 mph) in the No. 24 CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet Silverado.

Eckes’ KBM teammate Harrison Burton and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton, who is subbing for the ailing Matt Tifft on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series side, will share the second row for Saturday’s 200-lap race.

Tyler Ankrum completed the top five, followed by Johnny Sauter, Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek.

Todd Gilliland, the overall practice leader from Friday, starts 11th.

Meanwhile, the lowest of the six remaining playoff drivers in qualifying was Austin Hill, who will roll off 17th for defending championship team Hattori Racing Enterprises.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series; Martinsville Speedway; Oct. 26, 2019

1. #51 – Christian Eckes, 19.844 seconds (95.424 mph)
2. #24 – Brett Moffitt, 19.860 seconds (95.347 mph)
3. #18 – Harrison Burton, 19.908 seconds (95.118 mph)
4. #88 – Matt Crafton, 19.926 seconds (95.032 mph)
5. #17 – Tyler Ankrum, 19.940 seconds (94.965 mph)
6. #13 – Johnny Sauter, 19.951 seconds (94.913 mph)
7. #52 – Stewart Friesen, 19.954 seconds (94.898 mph)
8. #99 – Ben Rhodes, 19.987 seconds (94.742 mph)
9. #98 – Grant Enfinger, 20.003 seconds (94.666 mph)
10. #8 – John Hunter Nemechek, 20.007 seconds (94.647 mph)
11. #4 – Todd Gilliland, 20.013 seconds (94.618 mph)
12. #45 – Ross Chastain, 20.059 seconds (94.402 mph)
13. #02 – Tyler Dippel, 20.064 seconds (94.378 mph)
14. #2 – Sheldon Creed, 20.119 seconds (94.120 mph)
15. #15 – Tanner Gray, 20.137 seconds (94.036 mph)
16. #12 – Gus Dean, 20.175 seconds (93.859 mph)
17. #16 – Austin Hill, 20.183 seconds (93.822 mph)
18. #9 – Codie Rohrbaugh, 20.226 seconds (93.622 mph)
19. #30 – Danny Bohn, 20.244 seconds (93.539 mph)
20. #22 – Austin Wayne Self, 20.245 seconds (93.534 mph)
21. #21 – Sam Mayer, 20.245 seconds (93.534 mph)
22. #56 – Timmy Hill, 20.267 seconds (93.433 mph)
23. #20 – Spencer Boyd, 20.338 seconds (93.107 mph)
24. #44 – Jeb Burton, 20.489 seconds (92.420 mph)
25. #3 – Jordan Anderson, 20.527 seconds (92.249 mph)
26. #54 – Natalie Decker, 20.715 seconds (91.412 mph)
27. #33 – Dawson Cram, 20.844 seconds (90.846 mph)
28. #49 – Ray Ciccarelli, 20.990 seconds (90.214 mph)
29. #34 – Josh Reaume, 21.414 seconds (88.428 mph)
30. #6 – Norm Benning, 21.624 seconds (87.569 mph)
31. #10 – Jennifer Jo Cobb, 22.116 seconds (85.621 mph)
32. #0 – Cody McMahan, 32.067 seconds (59.051 mph)

BUSAN, South Korea - South Koreans Somi Lee and Seung Yeon Lee were tied for the third-round lead Saturday at the BMW Ladies Championship, the second event on the LPGA's four-tournament Asian swing.

Somi Lee shot 67 and Seung Yeon Lee 68 for 54-hole totals of 13-under 203.

Ha Na Jang was in third place, a stroke behind, after a 68.

Amy Yang (67), Busan-born Australian Su Oh (67) and second-round leader Danielle Kang (71) were two strokes behind the leaders and tied for fourth.

Seung Yeon Lee had birdies at 14, 15, 16 and 17, recovering from an early double bogey at No. 6.

''I really tried to focus on the present,'' said Seung Yeon Lee. ''I wasn't thinking about how many birdies I was making, how many pars I was making or if I wasn't too wrapped up in how I made a double bogey. Instead I just focused on every shot.''

Somi Lee birdied six of her final 10 holes.

Three players are on 11 under - last week's winner Kang, four-time LPGA winner Yang and Su Oh, who is looking for her first victory in her fourth year on tour.

Kang started the day with a one-stroke lead after back-to-back 67s. After opening with three bogeys and one birdie over her first five holes, Kang recovered on the back nine, coming home with birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 15.

''It was a very frustrating round today. I hit the wrong number twice. Every mistake you could possibly think of, we made it,'' said Kang, who is aiming to become the LPGA Tour's first back-to-back winner since 2017.

''I was proud that we were able to capitalize on certain holes and make some birdies coming in. I know that finishing in the red numbers was important. There was a lot of birdies out there today ... I didn't see much of the leaderboard, but I knew people were going low, so I was kind of frustrated.''

The LPGA's Asian swing moves to Taiwan next week with a fourth stop in Japan. Kang won the first stop in Shanghai last week.

MANCHESTER, England -- Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players that too many performances like their first half display against Aston Villa would see them relegated.

City eventually ran out 3-0 winners against Villa after a tough first 45 minutes that saw the score level at the break.

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The victory moved the champions to within three points of Liverpool before they play Tottenham on Sunday but Guardiola was not completely satisfied.

"Six days ago we were eight points [behind Liverpool] now we are three," Guardiola told a news conference.

"I am not concerned about the table. I am concerned about the way we played.

"If we play the level we played in the second half, we can be there at the end of the season I am sure of that.

"If we play the way we did in the first half, we will be in the relegation positions far away from the leaders of the table. That is my view. Not just this season but all the time."

After his midweek hat trick against Atalanta, Raheem Sterling was again City's key man after scoring the opener 19 seconds after half time before a controversial David Silva strike and Ilkay Gundogan sealed the win.

It was a difficult afternoon for Villa who saw their four-match unbeaten run come to an end but captain Jack Grealish, who left the stadium on crutches after suffering a calf injury, still caught Guardiola's eye.

"He is incredible, incredible player, top player," Guardiola added. "I am happy for the fact he is an Aston Villa player and he got offers to move on but decided to stay there in the Championship.

"I like that they were promoted to the Premier League and defend his club.

"He is a talented player -- fast in the final third, passes, always creates something. He's an exceptional player but too expensive for Manchester City!"

Test match cricket is likely to make a return to Pakistan in December 2019 with the PCB putting forward Rawalpindi and Karachi as possible venues for the two-match series against Sri Lanka.

ESPNcricinfo understands progress has been made with regards to ensuring the Test series takes place in Pakistan - the first of its kind since 2009 - with the board just awaiting the go-ahead from Sri Lanka Cricket. As for the players themselves, it is not yet clear which, if any, are reluctant to tour.

As per the PCB's proposed schedule, the Test series will last only a fortnight, roughly the same amount of time Sri Lanka were in the country for a limited-overs tour earlier this year. They played three ODIs in Karachi and two T20Is in Lahore between September 27 and October 10, and though several of their senior players pulled out, the fact it went off without a hitch, plus the better-than-expected results for what was called a second-string team, may have convinced some of them to travel to Pakistan again.

The decision to schedule a Test in Rawalpindi, which last hosted five-day cricket when India toured in 2004, would represent the first expansion of cricket beyond the major hubs of Lahore and Karachi. That Lahore has been overlooked as a venue for the series is something of a surprise, though it is believed the lack of daylight hours and the high likelihood of seasonal smog were the major reasons for the PCB looking elsewhere.

The last completed Test to be played in Pakistan took place in Karachi, which will host the second game of this series, should it go ahead. The last recorded Test in Pakistan was the one that was abandoned after two days in Lahore, following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009.