Chelsea were stretched by a fearless Swansea City outfit at Stamford Bridge, but goals from the Spanish troika of Cesc Fabregas, Pedro Rodriguez and Diego Costa helped the Blues open a 11-point lead at the top of the table on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace finally breathed easy, arresting a five-match losing streak at Selhurst Park to climb above the relegation zone with a 1-0 win against Middlesbrough. This also meant that defending champions Leicester City moved into the red zone for the first time this season.

Hull City and Burnley played a feisty 1-1 draw at the KCOM stadium, which saw the away side lose Ashley Barnes to a red card in the final stages of the game. David Moyes didn’t enjoy a happy comeback to Goodison Park as Everton cruised past his Sunderland outfit to post a 2-0 win. West Bromwich Albion continued to impress with a 2-1 over Bournemouth.

Chelsea open up 11-point lead

Antonio Conte’s side continued to march on to the league title they relinquished so tamely last season. On his 300th Premier League outing, Fabregas capitalised on a lose ball inside the box to volley the ball home from a tight angle to put his side in the lead.

Chelsea’s wastefulness in front of goal for the rest of the first half was punished by Llorente’s inch-perfect header from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick. The Iceland midfielder was unfortunate to have a penalty appeal turned down by the referee in the second half; replays showed that the ball had clearly struck Cesar Azplilicueta’s outstretched arm inside the area.

After pulling off a couple of magnificent point-blank saves, Swansea keeper Lucas Fabianski saw what should have been a fairly regulation take from Pedro’s shot squirm under his palms to find the net. Chelsea then went on to find a third goal late in the game through the combined brilliance of Eden Hazard and Costa, with the latter thumping the ball home off a volley from close range.

Brief scores:

  • Chelsea 3 (Cesc Fabregas, Pedro Rodriguez, Diego Costa) beat Swansea 1 (Fernando Llorente)
  • West Bromwich Albion 2 (Craig Dawson, Gareth McAuley) beat Bournemouth 1 (Joshua King)
  • Crystal Palace 1 (Patrick van Aanholt) beat Middlesbrough 0
  • Everton 2 (Idrissa Gueye, Romelu Lukaku) beat Sunderland 0
  • Hull City 1 (Tom Huddlestone) draw with Burnley 1 (Michael Keane)