Chelsea blow Boro away, one win away from title

The top team sent Middlesbrough down to the First Division with a resounding 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge, in the late match of round 36 of the Premier League.

Scorers: Diego Costa 23, Marcos Alonso 34, Nemanja Matic 65.

Chelsea showed no pressure to win, after Tottenham's stumble at West Ham. Antonio Conte's team confidently showed their superiority against Middlesbrough to create a seven-point gap with the second-placed team.

Coach Conte and his team are just one win away from winning the Premier League title this season. Photo: Reuters.

With just three games left in the season, Chelsea only need to beat West Brom on Friday to be crowned Premier League champions. Even if they fail to beat West Brom, the Blues still have two more home games against Watford and Sunderland to secure their second title in three seasons.

Middlesbrough needed to win to have any hope of survival, but they couldn't handle the heat at Stamford Bridge. The visitors had just two shots in the game and conceded 21 from Chelsea.

In the first half, Boro's net shook twice after shots from Diego Costa and Marcos Alonso. In the 65th minute, Nemanja Matic sent the visitors home with a 0-3 defeat and a ticket to play in the First Division. Middlesbrough is seven points behind 17th-placed Swansea with only two games left.

Cesc Fabregas, in a rare start due to N'Golo Kante's injury, was the lynchpin of Chelsea's play, with the Spaniard providing two assists for Costa's opener and Matic's winner.

Fabregas did not score, but still made an important contribution to Chelsea's victory. Photo: Reuters.

The Middlesbrough defence was thrown into disarray by Fabregas's incisive passes into the box, opening up opportunities for his teammates. Had their strikers used them better, Chelsea could have scored nearly seven goals from 21 shots.

The 30-year-old midfielder has also set a record as the first player to have at least 10 assists in six different seasons in the Premier League.

According to VNE