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Jose Mourinho paused as he thought about the last time one of his sides exploded out of the blocks as spectacularly as his current Chelsea team.

“Maybe Madrid, when we got to 100 points in the league.” he said. “I don’t remember but maybe that one.

“Maybe the second season at Chelsea when we won the title for the second time. I think we also had a very good start to that season.”

When you plunder as much silverware as the Portuguese has during his stellar career the achievements understandably become a bit of a blur.

What remains abundantly clear, however, is that this Chelsea team are on course for ­something special this season.

They have almost double the points of Arsenal, who are in a mess and lack leadership – on and off the pitch. Manchester City are inconsistent while Manchester United are muddling through with perhaps their worst defence anyone can remember.

Liverpool will be lucky to finish in the top half of the table at this rate while Southampton have impressed but would have to go way beyond their wildest dreams even to run Chelsea close.

Saturday's victory over West Brom was over once Eden Hazard’s 25th-minute strike doubled the advantage handed the Blues by Diego Costa’s 11th goal in 10 games.

As if the Baggies did not have enough of a mountain to climb, Claudio Yacob went in on Costa with a two-footed tackle after half an hour and was rightly sent off by referee Lee Mason.

Chelsea remain top, seven points clear and undefeated in 18 games in all competitions.

They must now surely be thinking of an unbeaten season to shatter Arsene Wenger’s claim it would never be done again after the Gunners’ triumph in 2003/04.

Mourinho admitted his biggest task now is maintain his players’ focus while their rivals cut each others’ throats.

He added: “It is a pragmatic message, easy for them to think about and reflect because it is the reality.

“Do you remember a team that played fantastic football and won nothing? I don’t think you remember a lot of them. You remember the ones that won.

(Image: Getty)

“We are playing fantastically well, we are getting results, but at the end of the season if you don’t get some silverware, then it is a frustration.”

Striker Loic Remy said: “Every player is conscious that we can win something this year. But the most important thing is to stay focussed and not think the league is already won.

“It is a trap if we think that. So we have to be careful and play the same way we are playing at the minute.”

Last season Chelsea’s run of six wins in a row in all competitions came to an end during November – the month that has been their undoing in past campaigns.

Victory at Schalke on Tuesday night in the Champions League, against Roberto Di Matteo – the man who delivered that trophy for the Blues two years ago – will complete an unbeaten November this time around.

The Premier League odds on Mourinho’s men keeping up that kind of form until next May are shortening all the time.