Chelsea continued their march to the English Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over West Ham United on Monday.
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Having seen some of their top six rivals – the title race is really over isn't it – pick up maximum points, Chelsea needed to reassert their dominance at the top of the table with a strong showing, and they did just that with two of their marquee players scoring the goals.
Eden Hazard opened the scoring in the 25th minute to take Chelsea into halftime a goal ahead, before Diego Costa made the game safe five minutes into the second half.
Manuel Lanzini gave West Ham a sliver of hope by netting in the second minute of stoppage time, but it was a little too late to mount a comeback and Chelsea had their three points.
The win means the Blues restored their lead at the top to ten points, ahead of second-placed Tottenham. Manchester City can reduce that gap to eight if they win their game in hand, but at this point and the way Chelsea are playing, even that gap looks way too big to catch-up with. West Ham are 11th, with 33 points from 27 matches.
"West Ham started the game very well with great intensity to put pressure on us," Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said. "In this type of game, it is right to manage the situation, above all when you are facing a really strong team like West Ham.
"They tried to put a lot of pressure on us. Don't forget West Ham-Chelsea is a derby and there is great difficulty in these types of games. We were very good to manage the start of the game, then score the goal, and then control the game.
"We played good football, and we created chances to score other goals. It's a pity to give away a second clean sheet at the end of the game, the second after Arsenal – we must work a bit on this aspect."
Such is Conte's demands that he gets upset just because Chelsea concede a goal, even if the match is already wrapped up by then. No wonder then that the Blues are marching on to the title as the rest of the top six battle it out for the remaining three Champions League places.
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