Conte: The league isn't over

Antonio Conte has told his players to ignore the Premier League table after Chelsea moved six points clear at the top with a 1-0 defeat of Sunderland.

Cesc Fabregas scored the Blues only goal at the Stadium of Light but it was enough to secure a tenth win in succession and move Conte's side six points clear of Liverpool and Arsenal.

The win means Chelsea will be top at Christmas time and ominously for their title rivals the West Londoners have lifted the Premier League title every time they have been top at Christmas.

Despite opening up a gap on their nearest rivals, Conte is refusing to look beyond the next game at Crystal Palace and he has urged his players to do the same.

"I prefer not to look at the table, I prefer this for me, for my players because we are doing something important until now, but the league didn't finish today," Conte said after the win at Sunderland.

"We are on top of the table, but there are still three games to end the first part of the season and then 19 games. This league is very tough and I think until the end, it will be a big battle between six teams."

Sunderland came close to denying Chelsea a tenth successive victory only for Thibaut Courtois to save Patrick van Aanholt's effort in injury time.

"I am pleased, for sure, because it's fantastic to win ten games in a row in this league because this league is very tough. It's very tough in every game, you have to fight until the end to take three points," the manager added.

"Today is an example. We had to fight a lot to win this game. We created many chances to score the second goal and to kill the game. Instead, we didn't kill it and at the end, Sunderland had a good chance to draw and only a great save by Thibaut allowed us to win."

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