Chelsea On Premiership Summit

It may only be November. It may be a marathon and not a sprint. It may have been a distinctly average performance. Nevertheless, Chelsea are back home, sitting on top of the English charts.

After the euphoria that greeted some of our recent triumphs, it was almost inevitable that the team in black would fail to reach such heights at Middlesbrough. After all, canny Middlesbrough have already denied Arsenic and Manchester Mercenaries maximum points this season. However Chelsea were able to prevail, courtesy of a combination of a lethal Costa at one end, allied with an equally impressive defence and goalkeeper at the other end. In a year of seemingly unthinkable outcomes, we are now treated to the surreal statistic of 590 minutes without Tibo and chums conceding a single Premiership goal. How cool is that? Next on our trail of destruction are the trophy dodgers of Tottenham, the Hillary Clinton of English football. Can little Spurs buck the trend of history? It would be a brave man who would bet money on that. Meanwhile Chelsea go forward, reinforced by the adage that champions sometimes win when they don't play particularly well - and that is a sobering thought for all of our erratic rivals.

Middlesbrough 0 CHELSEA 1; half time: 0-1

CHELSEA goal scorer: Costa

CHELSEA team: Courtois; Azpilicueta; Luiz; Matic; Kante; Cahill; Alonso; Moses; Hazard; Pedro; Costa. Used substitutes: Chalobah; Ivanovic; Oscar

CHELSEA leading scorers:

Costa ten goals

Hazard seven goals (including one penalty)

Batshuayi three goals

Moses three goals

Cahill two goals

Fabregas two goals

Pedro two goals

Willian two goals