For the first time since they lifted the title in May 2015 Chelsea are top of the Premier League, reaching the summit in style with this thrashing of an abject Everton. Should either Arsenal or Liverpool win on Sunday they will be deposed, but that may be temporary too for, make no mistake, Chelsea are championship contenders.

Since Antonio Conte changed formation in the wake of the late September drubbing at Arsenal they have won five successive league matches scoring 16 goals without reply. They have been unchanged the last four matches with Eden Hazard rediscovering the form that made him Footballer of the Year in 2014-15, Pedro the elan of his Barcelona days, and Victor Moses finally looking as if he belongs at this level. Defensively they are sound, in midfield they are nicely balanced, everywhere they are confident. And players such as Cesc Fabregas, Oscar, John Terry, Michy Batshuayi and Willian are not even in the starting line-up. Unlike their rivals Chelsea are also unencumbered by the commitments of European competition, which in the long slog of English football could prove decisive.

Everton, however, had any pretensions to challenge blown away. They have not won a league match at the Bridge in 22 years and never looked like ending that barren run. Ronald Koeman changed formation to match up Conte’s but it proved a grievous error. Chelsea dominated from the start and two goals in a minute early in the first half, by Hazard and Marcos Alonso, put them in total command. Once Diego Costa added a third shortly before the break it became just a matter of how many. Five proved the answer, Hazard scoring a second and Pedro chipping in. The humiliated visitors were relieved it was not more. Their exalted front trio, Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley and Yannick Bolasie, may as well not been on the pitch for all the impact they had.

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The match was preceded by fireworks, launched from the stadium roof. An explosion of a different kind seemed likely once the game kicked off as Coleman, seeking to compensate for a poor first touch, lunged studs-first into the shins of Diego Costa drawing blood. Fortunately for the Irishman he got enough of the ball to persuade Bobby Madley there was no foul, never mind a booking, but Costa glared darkly at the culprit when he limped back on after treatment. There is a history of enmity between the two and the prospect of Costa extracting revenge seemed high.

In the event the Spanish international kept his cool, though Everton would not go unpunished. With 18 minutes gone and Everton making what was already a rare foray forward, Gareth Barry was caught in possession. The ball was switched via Costa to Hazard on the left. His first touch was poor, but the rest were sublime. Cutting in he drifted across Ashley Williams and Coleman before shooting inside the far post. Maarten Stekelenburg looked at fault, but argued he was distracted by a run, from an offside position, by Pedro.

Antonio Conte has witnessed his side score 16 goals without conceding in the league (Getty)

Once the celebrations had ceased Everton kicked off - 24 seconds later they were two down. This time Hazard was the supplier, spinning away from Barry and Williams on the halfway line to drive into the heart of Everton’s defence. He fed Pedro on the right and while the Spaniard’s cross was behind Costa it rolled perfectly for Marcos Alonso to drive through Stekelenburg’s legs.

Everton were shell-shocked. Phil Jagielka was booked for dissent, Bryan Oviedo nearly gifted Hazard another goal with a blind back-pass, Victor Moses lashed against the post from Alonso’s clever cross.

Koeman had seen enough. Oviedo was hauled off, Kevin Mirallas came on, and the visitors reverted to a conventional back four. It made no difference. Chelsea’s constant pressure forced a corner, Nemanja Matic flicked it on and Costa, unmarked, made a difficult volley look easy.

Diego Costa peels away with Gary Cahill after scoring Chelsea's third goal (Getty)

This was in keeping with the whole Chelsea performance. With the points secure they began to add artistic flourishes, but always with an end product. In the 56th minute Pedro played a backheeled one-two with Hazard who again bewildered Williams before driving inside Stekelenburg’s near post. It was Hazard’s seventh goal of the season, exceeding last season’s entire haul. Nine minutes later Costa nutmegged Jagielka then released Hazard. Stekelenburg parried his shot, but Pedro was on hand to complete a five-star show.

“Fantastica” [wonderful] was the verdict of Conte on the 5-0 win over Everton that took Chelsea to the top of the Premier League. He was not, however, allowing himself or his players to get carried away. “We don’t want to send a message out to other teams, we want to send a message to ourselves,” said the Italian. “It is important to be focussed on our work. We want to improve and are working a lot to do so.

“I am very pleased. It is important to win, but to win this way with the good football is sweet. It is good for confidence.” Of man-of-the-match Hazard he added: “Eden is a player with great talent but he is also working very hard which is very good for the team.”

Hard work, or rather, the lack of it from his players, was also uppermost in Koeman’s mind. “I expect more from my team,” he said. “There was a big difference in every aspect of football. They showed us how you need to press, they had the quality, the movement, the mentality to win the game. Five is a high score, but really totally deserved.

“Chelsea showed a very high level in every aspect of football. They were very aggressive in winning second balls, there was a big difference between the sides. I did not expect that.

“It is good for everyone to see how quality technical players also run and work and press, they can learn from that.” Adding, darkly, that “I can change my players” the Everton manager said: “Everyone is very disappointed. It is only three points, but we need to react. We need to show this is not our level."

Teams

Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill (Terry, 85); Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro (Oscar, 71), Hazard (Batshuayi, 80); Costa.

Everton (3-5-2): Stekelenberg; Williams, Jagielka, Funes Mori; Coleman, Cleverley, Barry (Davies, 66), Barkley, Oviedo (Mirallas, 36); Bolasie (Lennon, 60), Lukaku.

Referee: R Madley.

Attendance: 41,429

Man of the match: Hazard