Eden Hazard and Diego Costa send Chelsea 10 points clear with win at West Ham

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Eden Hazard and Diego Costa were on target as clinical Chelsea swatted aside West Ham 2-1 to take a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two of Chelsea&&num;8217&semi;s three Premier League defeats this season were away London derbies &&num;8211&semi; to Arsenal and Tottenham &&num;8211&semi; and West Ham beat the Blues in the EFL Cup in a match marred by crowd trouble at the London Stadium&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Those scenes &&num;8211&semi; of violence and a Chelsea defeat &&num;8211&semi; were not repeated here&comma; although one fan hurdled the advertising hoardings to remonstrate with celebrating Chelsea players after Hazard&&num;8217&semi;s goal before he was wrestled away&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte may be taking nothing for granted in the title race&comma; but his side are showing little sign of slipping up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tottenham are the Blues&&num;8217&semi; nearest rivals with 11 games to go&comma; but third-placed Manchester City could move eight points behind by winning their game in-hand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>West Ham&&num;8217&semi;s direct tactics were predictable&comma; but Chelsea withstood the bombardment until Manuel Lanzini&&num;8217&semi;s stoppage-time strike&comma; which proved mere consolation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Slaven Bilic would have anticipated the visitors playing on the counter-attack&comma; but his side could not stop Chelsea going in front once the excellent N&&num;8217&semi;Golo Kante had intercepted a Robert Snodgrass pass intended for Sofiane Feghouli&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ten seconds later the ball was in the Hammers&&num;8217&semi; net as Hazard struck his 10th of the campaign&period; While&comma; Costa bundled in his 17th and now has 49 Premier League goals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Next the Blues play Jose Mourinho&&num;8217&semi;s Manchester United&comma; who they beat 4-0 in the league&comma; in the FA Cup quarter-finals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Conte&comma; Mourinho&&num;8217&semi;s permanent successor&comma; on Friday spoke of Hazard receiving a kick in training and he was fouled twice in the opening four minutes&period; Victor Moses beat Andy Carroll in the air to head clear a Feghouli cross from the right&period; The Hammers striker suffered a cut to his nose which needed running repairs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Swarming black shirts were wary of the aerial threat of Carroll&comma; with Snodgrass and Feghouli providing the artillery&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chelsea&&num;8217&semi;s defence was holding up well&semi; far better than Gary Cahill&&num;8217&semi;s shirt which had to be replaced when it ripped in half&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And the opening goal came after 25 minutes&comma; from a promising position for West Ham&period; Lanzini struck a free-kick into the wall and Kante nipped in before bursting forward&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He fed Hazard&comma; who found Pedro and then continued his run&period; Hazard stayed onside and kept his balance as Darren Randolph lost his to do the rest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Hammers defence had been breached&period; There was immediately a security concern as a man evaded the stewards to approach the celebrating Chelsea players&period; He was swiftly shackled by three stewards and taken away&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;WestHamvChelseaDiegoCostascoresMar2017&lowbar;large&period;jpg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;WestHamvChelseaDiegoCostascoresMar2017&lowbar;large&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108709" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chelsea&&num;8217&semi;s confidence grew&period; Lanzini fired over after driving through the centre and exchanging passes with Mark Noble&comma; but seconds later it should have been 2-0&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Costa was slightly in front of Hazard&&num;8217&semi;s cross and failed to get a clean connection&period; The ball ran for Moses&comma; whose shot was blocked by Aaron Cresswell&comma; then Randolph denied Pedro&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chelsea had their second five minutes after the resumption&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A Cesc Fabregas corner evaded West Ham&&num;8217&semi;s near-post defenders and the ball bounced in off Costa&&num;8217&semi;s thigh&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Marcos Alonso lifted the ball narrowly wide moments later after beating three would-be tacklers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Next Carroll shot over for West Ham&comma; Thibaut Courtois repelled Snodgrass&&num;8217&semi; cross and then Jose Fonte headed wide&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nemanja Matic was sent on for Pedro to protect Chelsea&&num;8217&semi;s lead as Conte switched to a 3-5-2 formation and the Blues soon almost had a third before Randolph saved smartly after Costa turned Kouyate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The leaders faced an anxious conclusion as Lanzini struck after substitute Andre Ayew ran at David Luiz &&num;8211&semi; 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