Fabregas Puts Chelsea to Six Points Lead with Sunderland Win

Chelsea got their 10th consecutive win for Antonio Conte,  who have not been beaten in the league since a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on 24 September.

If the Italian leads his side the to the Premier League crown, that slump in north London one Saturday afternoon will burnish his myth.

Trailing 3-0 at the pause, Conte switched to the formation that had been his bedrock while in charge of Juventus and then Italy.

Arsenal cruised through the second half and the tactical change went virtualy unnoticed as talk began about how long Conte had left in the job at Chelsea following successive defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal.

A couple of months later - and two Premier League manager of the month awards - the debate is more about how to frustrate Conte's all conquering innovation.

Manchester City should have stopped the juggernaut on 3 December at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola's men were leading 1-0 and had a glorious chance to make it 2-0. The opportunity was squandered and Chelsea hit back to win 3-1. A week earlier, Tottenham Hotspur led at Stamford Bridge but Pedro and Victor Moses struck to end the visitors' unbeaten start.

Since the victory over Manchester City, there have been two 1-0 wins. Hardly spectacular like the 5-0 and 4-0 home romps over Everton and Manchester United respectively but three points nonetheless.

"I am pleased for my players because they deserve this 10th victory for their commitment and work-rate every day, in every training session, during the game", Conte said. "Now for sure we have to continue.

A trip to south-east London on Saturday to take on Crystal Palace is in the offing. Eden Hazard, who missed the voyage to Sunderland, should be fit to return to the line-up.

On Wednesday night, it was one of the putative forgotten men who secured the victory. Fabregas has been one of the main casualties of Conte's 3-4-3 with the Italian preferring the shields of Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante in the middle rather than the Spain international's playmaking genius.

With Matic injured, Fabregas has entered and his renowned range of passing has posed a different set of problems for opponents relying on defence.

"The performance was really good and I felt we were very, very strong," said Fabregas after the game. "Now we want to keep winning. Hopefully we can continue like this and send out a strong message."

The 29-year-old former Arsenal and Barcelona star added: "People forget that it's only my second time in my career that I've played this system. My teammates have played it much more, but I'm getting used to it and feel very comfortable."

Home games against Bournemouth and Stoke over Christmas follow the match at Palace. "I prefer not to look at the top of the table," Conte said. "We are doing something important up to now, but the league doesn't finish today. There are still three games before the halfway stage of the season. And then another 19.

David Moyes, the Sunderland manager, is facing a fight for survival rather than glory. Sunderland are bottom after 16 games with 11 points. The safety of 17th place is four points away.

Moyes says he believes the strong showing against Chelsea offers hope. "We can come off saying we have had a right go at a top team," he said. "We got better in the second half and finished strongly. But didn't quite do enough to get something out of the game."

Moyes added: "Their keeper made two great saves. "You need a top keeper and a top striker and we have that here, but so have Chelsea and they are a real threat.

"It's too early to say if Chelsea will be champions. We restricted them to a few scoring opportunities but we couldn't stop them controlling the game."