It was a brilliant display by Antonio Conte’s side, who took the lead through Marcos Alonso early in the game. Hazard added a magnificent second after the break before Cesc Fabregas made it 3-0 with his first touch after coming off the bench.

Cahill said the players were motivated by our 3-0 reverse at the Emirates earlier in the season.

‘It should have been 3-0 but it was fantastic,’ said the defender. ‘In football you get opportunities to put things right, I remember coming off the pitch after Arsenal away and feeling like a mug, we had the opportunity and we put it right.

‘We’re confident when we play at home and we knew a win against a massive team would be vitally important for us. It felt good to get the three points.’

Hazard was instrumental throughout, a constant thorn in Arsenal’s side, and he got the goal his performance had merited early in the second half, a wonderful solo effort.

‘It’s always good to score beautiful goals against big teams,’ added the Belgian. ‘I enjoyed the game, and the goal, we scored three times and we deserved to win.

‘I just tried to dribble [for the goal]. I try to do that every game but it’s not always like that. I know I need to score more goals so I’m happy. We created a lot of chances but we can do better on the counter attack.

'It’s always good to win against Arsenal, we are 12 points clear of them now and top of the league, we want to stay there.

'We love playing against them at Stamford Bridge. The fans gave everything and supported us like crazy.'

Cahill believes the team are benefiting from the hard work being carried out on the training pitches at Cobham and feels the win over Arsene Wenger’s side can go a long way to helping us reach our objectives.

‘We practice this formation and our tactics, the manager is very thorough and we take that on board,’ he said. ‘Going forward we created a lot, we could have had more goals, but the second one was special, from a special player.

‘We’ve put ourselves in a great position. We’re playing well and we knew the game against Arsenal was important. Touch wood, everybody stays fit and healthy so we can keep going.’

Conte celebrated Hazard's goal wildly with supporters in the East Stand, and the Belgian paid tribute to the Blues boss.

'He’s like that every day in training or games, he’s special,' said Hazard. 'He gives confidence to all the players and we’re playing well with the new system.'



