Antonio Conte has told his players to ignore the Premier League table after seeing Chelsea go six points clear at the top with victory at Sunderland.
Cesc Fabregas’ first league goal of the season secured a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light, the Blues’ 10th in succession, and opened up the gap above Liverpool and Arsenal.
However, Conte is refusing even to contemplate what might lie ahead.
He said: “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.
“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.”
Fabregas’ 40th-minute strike ultimately settled the game, although Sunderland would have ended the Blues’ winning league run had Thibaut Courtois not produced a superb save to deny Patrick van Aanholt an injury-time equaliser.
Conte said: “I am pleased, for sure, because it’s fantastic to win 10 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.
“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.”
It was just Fabregas’ third league start of the campaign, and Conte was delighted with the Spaniard’s contribution.
He said: “I am very happy for him because Cesc is a great example for the other players.”