24 games have been played and 14 still remaining but the title race appears to be over earlier than expected as Chelsea opened up a 12-point gap at the top of the of the Premier League table.

The Blues tightened their grip at the top of the league standing with a convincing 3-1 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, apparently putting an end to the Gunners title challenge.

With Arsene Wenger still serving his ban, he could only watch as his team fell to their second defeat in five days, ending any hope of silverware again this season.

The Gunners had lost 1-2 at home to Watford earlier in the week and Wenger expected them to bounce back against Chelsea whom they had defeated in the reverse fixture in September but there was no repeat of such as Chelsea exerted their authority in the match.

The loss left Chelsea in the eight place and eight points behind then leaders Man City but a change in tactics has seen the Blues won 16 league games, lost at Tottenham and drawn at Liverpool.

Back to today’s game, Marcus Alonso put Chelsea ahead in the 13th minutes after Diego Costa’s effort came back off the back. Eden Hazard added the second less than ten minutes after restart.

Cesc Fabregas made it 3-0 five minutes from time for Chelsea, scoring his first ever Premier League against Arsenal. Olivier Giroud pulled one back for Arsenal in injury time but could only counted as a consolation for the Gunners.

Arsenal too had their chances but Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck efforts were well saved by Thibaut Courtois. They will now have to concentrate on finishing in the top four.

Expectedly, Antonio Conte was pleased with the results he look forward to winning the league in his first season in England.