Blues gaffer plays it cagey

Antonio Conte dismissed all talk of Chelsea being title favourites despite seeing his in- form side stretch their winning sequence to seven Premier League games.

Tottenham have not won at Stamford Bridge for 26 years and despite taking the lead as the Blues conceded a first league goal in 601 minutes, relentless Chelsea ground out yet another victory.

Pedro’s sublime strike cancelled out Christian Eriksen’s superb opener and Victor Moses struck Chelsea’s winner.

But cautious Blues boss Conte is taking nothing for granted. The Italian said: “It’s too early to talk of the title. This league is very tough.

“Tottenham showed in this league there are six or seven teams that can win the title. It’s important to continue in this way and improve the confidence.”

Spurs struck first when Dele Alli set

Chelsea ........................... 2 Spurs ............................... 1 Phil McIntyre

up to Eriksen to fire in a brilliant strike from the edge of the area.

Chelsea hit back when the away side gave Pedro too much room on the edge of the area and the Spaniard turned before netting a fine curling effort.

What proved to be the home side’s winning goal came six minutes after the break when Diego Costa cut the ball back for Moses to shoot in off the covering Jan Vertonghen.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said: “If we analyse the game we were better. We competed very well and we were a bit unlucky to concede. It was never 1-1 at half-time.

“All the stats are for us but football is not just about stats. You need to be clinical and score.”