Luiz jumps to defence of Diego Costa

This had followed a clash of heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (100/30, 14 goals so far) and Harry Kane (4/1, 13 goals so far) are both rated as more likely to finish at the summit than Sanchez, who can be backed at odds of 6/1 alongside Sergio Aguero (11 goals so far). This time Chelsea were nothing of the sort, and while it would be fearless to call any Conte team passive, they were pretty close to that.

Hull manager, Marco Silva, was disappointed by the result of the match, but says he was encouraged by his side’s display. But later on, the London rivals Tottenham overtrumped Chelsea with the same strategy.

Conte has refused to acknowledge there was even a dispute with Costa, but it will be instructive to see if he restores the notoriously volatile star to his starting line-up with so much at stake in the title race.

Chelsea largely dominated the extended first half after Ryan Mason’s unfortunate injury, which led to Abel Hernandez and Sam Clucas chasing the ball.

Michael Ballack has told Diego Costa to scrap any plans to move to China, telling the Chelsea striker that he already earns more money than he will ever be able to spend. The goal provided a comfortable two-goal cushion to Chelsea.

Eden Hazard played the central role in a front three with Pedro and Willian against Leicester, and Chelsea won 3-0, just as they did against the Cherries on Boxing Day.

“It is normal to receive a lot of questions [about Costa]”. In this second half of the season, Hull’s aerial ability should help win them a few more points which could be the difference between relegation and safety.

“You know how it is – when a striker is doing well, is doing the business and is as important as Costa, you know he is going to get some kind of interest from other clubs”, Hasselbaink said. So, this could have been given penalty by the officials.

Hull, belying their position of second bottom in the table, pushed Chelsea hard and might have had a penalty before Cahill sealed victory for the hosts nine minutes from time at Stamford Bridge when he ran on unchallenged to head in Cesc Fabregas’s free-kick.

“Diego has two years left on his contract”. So, clearly, it was huge mistake considered by the Hull defence.

But, here are our Chelsea player ratings in full… He was a very special manager, who found a very special axis with the players.

Chelsea’s next Premier League games – following Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with neighbours Brentford – are at Liverpool on January 31 and at home to Arsenal on February 4.

Yet a 15th win in 16 league games came courtesy of a distinctly imperfect performance.

“Honestly, I didn’t see it because I was celebrating on the bench”, Conte said.