Chelsea on fire, thrash Bournemouth to claim 12 wins in 12

Wilshere, now on a season-long loan at Bournemouth, knows the strength of Antonio Conte’s side after finding himself on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

It was Chelsea’s 12th straight win in the current campaign, a record for the club.

Hazard coolly deceived Boruc as he rolled his penalty into the right corner to score his 50th Premier League goal.

However, although happy another win, Conte insists his side must maintain their high standards with the games coming thick and fast over the festive period.

Chelsea have won 12 games on the bounce and are now six points ahead of Liverpool and nine in front of Arsenal, with one game left before the turn of the year.

“He played five or six passes that are up there with some of the best I have seen in recent times so they will replace a player with Fabregas’ qualities, I don’t see that being a help to us. We want to continue but, for sure, it won’t be easy”. I hope to continue to win until the end of this season.

“To miss those two players (N’Golo Kante was also suspended) was a good challenge (for us) and we did well so we are full of confidence and it’s good”.

“We are all different players, Pedro, Willian and me”, he said.

“They look like champions at the minute, for me, at the moment they’re the best team in the league”, Wilshere admitted.

“Of course there was some expectation of going with Michy up front and keeping the style the same, but the manager must have looked at the opposition and spotted their weaknesses”.

After his display today, Hazard’s 356 days without a goal a year ago seems unfathomable and he got his ninth goal of the season against Bournemouth which, in turn, was his 50th Premier League goal for Chelsea.

Michy Batshuayi, a £33 million (S$58.6m) signing from Marseille in July, is still without a Premier League start.

Pedro, who also shone in the win on Monday, will not be available for selection in Chelsea’s New Year’s Eve match with Stoke through suspension although Costa and Kante will return. On the ball, we gave them too many times to get into those situations by not being tight enough or good enough.

Crystal Palace and Watford finished 1-1 in the early game of the day, as Sam Allardyce took charge of his first game as manager of the Eagles.

Jack Wilshere went close to equalising for Bournemouth in the 26th minute whichThibaut Courtois got down quickly to palmed the effort away.

Chelsea have a less intensive festive schedule than the Reds as they face three matches in 10 days, while Liverpool face the same number of games in seven days.