Alonso Double Foils Leicester

Marcos Alonso tripled his goals tally for his new club with a goal six minutes into each half. Adding to his lethal contribution was another rarity: a headed goal from little Pedro. Both Spaniards have not been without their critics, but they sure stepped up to the mark on an evening when the football world looked on to see if the runaway Premiership leaders could cope in the absence of the apparently injured Costa.

In the event, the Premiership favourites again demonstrated that as valuable as Diego has proven to be, life still goes on relentlessly for the impressive Chelsea juggernaut. Furthermore, Courtois and his defence returned to clean sheet territory. By the end of this successful weekend, the giants from west London had proceeded to extend their lead at the top of the charts to a comfortable seven points.

Hull City are next in the line of fire next Sunday afternoon. There are five teams in the chasing pack trying desperately to catch up with Chelsea, but quite frankly these challengers will almost certainly continue to take points off each other, thereby nullifying their so-called challenge. Antonio Conte has enjoyed three successful months in which he has been nominated as the Manager of the Month. If he can keep Costa interested, then Chelsea have the Premiership within their grasp. However, even if Diego succumbs to the temptations of a huge payout in China, the league leaders have shown again that they can more than adequately cope without him. 

Leicester City 0 CHELSEA 3; half time: 0-1

CHELSEA goal scorers: Alonso (two); Pedro

CHELSEA team: Courtois; Azpilicueta; Luiz; Kante; Matic; Cahill; Alonso; Moses; Willian; Hazard; Pedro. Used substitutes: Fabregas; Batshuayi; Loftus-Cheek

CHELSEA leading scorers:

Costa fourteen goals

Hazard nine goals (including two penalties)

Pedro seven goals

Willian five goals

Batshuayi four goals

Moses four goals

Alonso three goals

Cahill three goals

Fabregas three goals