Antonio Conte hailed his record-equalling Chelsea team, but insisted they had to keep working as ‘anything can happen’ in the Premier League title race.

Conte’s men racked up their 11th successive win thanks to Diego Costa scoring the only goal at Crystal Palace and the manager said: “To win 11 in a row in this league is not easy. I hope to continue this run but every game is tough. We have got quality in the team but today, if we did not concentrate, focus, have the will to fight to go into the battle with your opponent, we lose the game.

“We are working a lot, we work a lot to reach this level in the table. In my first season in England it is fantastic to win 14 of 17, but we have 21 games to go, anything can happen. I like the present, but I want to like the future more. I want the future to be special for us and the only way is to work.”

"We feel very confident,” said defender Gary Cahill. “Physically, we are in good shape and fantastic players are in top form. We are organised and enjoying it."

That much was clear to opposing manager Alan Pardew whose own team suffered an eighth defeat in 11 league games, with only one win. “We have to get some points on the board and start winning games,” said Pardew, “but today was always going to be difficult. Chelsea are confident in defence, with good shape and discipline, and they just did enough offensively to edge it. We threw everything at them but they have great players and played well.”

Of his own team he said: “Every game is an opportunity to get points on the board. We had difficult fixtures at home in the first half of the season and that is where we need to improve our form.

Pardew will be looking forward to putting a dire calendar year behind him (EPA)

Palace have had a dire 2016 and Pardew added: “The back end of last season showed we needed to score more goals. We addressed that but then we began conceding too many. We have to get that balance right but I don’t have any fears for these players. They are a good group. No one could fault them for effort and commitment today. I think we will have a good year next year.”

"The positives are for everyone to see,” said defender Scott Dann. “ We came up against a top team, top of the league and we deserved to get something out of the game. We showed togetherness and commitment and if we continue that, we will start picking up points.

"We more than matched them for the majority of the game but they showed their quality for the goal. We have come up against two top teams this week and shown resilience. Hopefully, we will turn a corner."