Chelsea march past Swansea

Cesc Fabregas marked his 300th Premier League appearance with the opening goal in Chelsea's 3-1 victory over Swansea as the runaway leaders moved 11 points clear at the top on Saturday.

Fabregas's first half goal was cancelled out by an equaliser from Fernando Llorente on the stroke of half time at Stamford Bridge, but second half goals from Pedro and Diego Costa sealed a comfortable win.

The outcome meant Swansea manager Paul Clement and coach Claude Makelele endured a painful return to the club they had served as assistant manager and player respectively.

But for Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, the win moved the Blues one step closer towards a second title in three years and further tested the Italian's determination to play down his side's prospects of becoming champions.

Swansea arrived in west London as a team in form having won three of their last four games, a run that has moved them clear of the relegation places.

But the Welsh side were simply overwhelmed right from the opening moments of the game when Pedro immediately unpicked the visitors defence to create a good chance for Costa. And the breakthrough quickly came in the 19th minute when Clement's side finally succumbed to Chelsea's relentless power.

Once again Conte's side drove at the heart of the visitors defence, this time through Eden Hazard, before a quick exchange of passes capped a thrilling move.

Hazard laid the ball off to Pedro on the right and continued his forward run, creating a space for Fabregas to run into and collect the first time return before placing his shot beyond Lukasz Fabianski.

However, the balance of the game changed dramatically in the second minute of first half stoppage-time when the visitors equalised from their first meaningful attack of the game.

And while Llorente deserved credit for the way he directed a powerful header past Thibaut Courtois from Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick, Chelsea's decision to assign wing-back Victor Moses to the task of marking the tall striker looked questionable.