YOU CONTE Crowd-surfing Blues boss claims title race isn’t

ANTONIO CONTE can’t hear the Fat Lady singing yet – but that’s only because she is having one last gargle before taking to the stage.

Chelsea maintained their stranglehold on the title race and, in doing so, put a big blue cross through one of those games that Conte would have recognised as having the potential to deliver a bum note.

But the Chelsea boss isn’t making a song and dance out of it.

When he briefly turned his back on the game in injury-time to applaud the Stamford Bridge fans for chanting his name, he missed Olivier Giroud head A r s e n a l ’ s me a n i n g l e s s consolation.

Chelsea’s touchline conductor won’t take his eye off the sheet music again – even if Chelsea’s charge looks unstoppable.

Goals from Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas didn’t reflect the level of their superiority.

But afterwards Conte insisted: “The league is not finished. That’s a pity, but there are still 14 games to go and 42 points to play for. For sure, it was important to win against a rival for the title and we should celebrate tonight.

“But tomorrow we must only think about the next game – against Burnley.”

Just four days after leaving Liverpool with a point that had Jurgen Klopp reaching for a stein of his favourite pilsner, Chelsea gave Arsene Wenger an excuse to take a massive swig from a bottle of French red.

Wenger was forced to endure the pain of a second defeat in a week while sat among the punters in the not- so- cheap seats as he continued his fourgame touchline ban.

He is being punished for pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor last month – after 13 minutes Wen g e r al s o probably wanted to get to grips with Martin Atkinson.

Alonso’s opener should not have stood.

Diego Costa’s cunning was too much for Hector Bellerin as Pedro crossed from the right.

And when the striker’s meaty header bounced high off the crossbar, in raced Alonso to leap above Bellerin and bullet home the opener. Perhaps referee Atkinson only saw the Spaniard get a jump on the Arsenal full-back, but he did miss Alonso’s elbow connect flush with Bellerin’s head. “Of course, it was a foul,” said Wenger. “It seems referees are more severe on tackles made on the ground than they are when it is an elbow to the face. “I don’t know whether Bellerin was fully knocked out. But he didn’t even know that Che lsea had scored, so I had to make a quick decision to bring him off. “The goal made it more difficult for us because Chelsea