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Eden Hazard scored a magnificent goal for Chelsea against Arsenal
Italian boss Antonio Conte refuses to admit this win all but guarantees Chelsea another Premier League crown in his first season here, but who is he kidding?
Someone at Stamford Bridge had better overrule their genius of a coach, quickly book an open top bus and tell the local council to clear the King's Road for the last weekend in May because the title race is now officially over.
The only race left following in this season's Premier League is the one for second place.
This was a ruthless destruction of Arsenal by the runaway league leaders, who not only inflicted another body blow to the rotting corpse of Arsenal's title aspirations, but also warned the other pretenders not to bother any more.
It was all too easy for Conte's heavyweight line-up against soft, lightweight opponents, who had manager Arsene Wenger helplessly watching from the stands amid his touchline ban.
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Marcos Alonso got Chelsea's first of the afternoon
At least the French coach could see everything, for once, as a controversial early Marcos Alonso header, which left Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin unconscious, was followed by a second half Eden Hazard wonder goal and a late Cesc Fabregas lob before Olivier Giroud's meaningless injury-time header for the Gunners.
Conte was hugging Chelsea staff in the press room after the match, but gave nothing away when asked if he was celebrating the title.
“No,” he smiled. “Why? Because there are 14 games to play before the end of the season and there are 42 points to take.
“I don't slip and I don't want my players to slip. It's important this. In my squad I have a lot of players with good experience, because they won a lot in their careers.
“They know we haven't won the title yet.”
“I won a title with eight points more and before four games at the end, and another time I lost in the same way. For this reason I think I have a bit of experience to manage this situation and to try to keep our antennae very high.”
Should Chelsea's goal have stood after this challenge on Hector Bellerin?
Sat, February 4, 2017
Should have Chelsea's opening goal against Arsenal stood after this challenge on Hector Bellerin
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Should Chelsea's goal have stood after Alonso's challenge on Bellerin?
This Arsenal team featured just one change from their side that annihilated Chelsea 3-0 at home back in September, with only the injured Santi Cazorla absent.
But the Blues Brothers are an altogether different band of men four months down the line.
Conte ripped up the rule book after that painful defeat in north London, switched to three at the back and drilled a winning mentality into his men.
Conte's crew were eighth and eight points off the pace back then, with some pundits questioning whether the former Italy boss could hack it in the Premier League.
And skipper Gary Cahill admitted afterwards the entire Chelsea club had been galvanised by their Highbury humiliation.
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Arsenal dropped 12 points behind Chelsea
Cahill revealed: “I felt like a mug after the game at Arsenal and we were determined not to let that happen again. For sure it added a bit of desire.
“The manager is very thorough. We created a lot. We could have had more goals. Eden scored a special goal. For me that killed the game.”
If only, from an Arsenal point of view, their manager was as bold and thorough as Conte in terms of changing his tactics and personnel.
But he refused to criticise his highly-paid super star players such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, who once again failed to deliver when their manager and team-mates needed them most.
“For me it's very difficult to come out individually on players after a big disappointment like that,” Wenger protested. Certainly individually we were not at our best in some positions.”
Wenger also argued Chelsea's 13th minute opener should have been disallowed for Alonso's elbow on Bellerin and Conte did not disagree, but that did not decide this match and they both agreed on that score.
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Cesc Fabregas scored late on against his former side
Conte also praised Hazard's astounding contribution and solo run from the halfway line to score their second eight minutes after the break.
Then came an 85th minute deft lob from sub Cesc Fabregas against his former club following a shocking clearance by keeper Petr Cech against his ex-team-mates.
Neither Arsenal supporters nor players celebrated Giroud's header from a Nacho Monreal cross.
The game was long up by then as some might argue it was before this one-sided encounter even began.
Chelsea (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill; Moses (Zouma 88), Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro (Willian 84), Diego Costa, Hazard (Fabregas 84). Subs: Begovic (GK), Terry, Chalobah, Batshuayi.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Cech; Bellerin (Gabriel 13), Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin (Giroud 65); Walcott (Welbeck 70), Ozil, Iwobi; Alexis. Subs: Ospina (GK), Gibbs, Reine-Adelaide, Maitland-Niles.
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