EPL: 11th straight win for Antonio Conte’s ‘fantastic’ Chelsea

Chelsea’s impressive winning run continued in the English Premier League Saturday as a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace made it 11 straight to stretch its lead at the top of the standings to nine points.

Since a stuttering start to the campaign under new manager Antonio Conte, the west London side has been in rampant form, with striker Diego Costa grabbing his 13th goal of the season to clinch the three points at Selhurst Park.

The Spanish star jumped to head Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross past Wayne Hennessey in the 43rd minute.

Chelsea might have increased its advantage in the second half against a struggling Palace side which was suffering its second home defeat in a week, beaten 2-1 by Manchester United Wednesday.

The only negative for Conte and his team were bookings picked up by the prolific Costa and midfield dynamo N’Golo Kante which will rule them out of the home game against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

Arsenal, which plays fourth-placed Manchester City Sunday, and Liverpool, taking on Everton in the Merseyside derby Monday, can cut into Chelsea’s lead with their game in hand.

Chelsea was equaling its own club record 11th successive EPL victory, but will need a further three more wins to match the all-time best set by Arsenal in 2002.

Another milestone reached for the Blues was a 500th EPL win, the third best.

“It’s my first season in England and to win 14 games out of 17 is fantastic,” said former Juventus manager Conte.

In other games Saturday, the highlight was a stirring fightback by champion Leicester at Stoke City.

Trailing 2-0 at halftime with star striker Jamie Vardy sent off, the Foxes were stung into action as substitutes Leonardo Ulloa and Daniel Amartey scored with late headed goals to secure a point for Claudio Ranieri’s men.

England striker Vardy went for a two-footed challenge on Mame Diouf with Bojan Krkic from the spot and Joe Allen putting Stoke ahead with the man advantage.

Ranieri had to be pulled away from referee Craig Pawson as he protested that decision at halftime, but was delighted by his team’s stirring fightback. “It was a fantastic performance, thank you to my players,” he told BBC Sport.

Middlesbrough and West Ham pulled themselves clear of the relegation fight with 3-0 and 1-0 home wins over Swansea and Hull respectively, who are both in the bottom three.

Sunderland is also in the drop zone, but a 1-0 home win over Watford was encouraging.

In the late game, Manchester United won its third straight EPL game as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in each half in the 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, helping his side edge still nearer the top four.

Juve extends Serie A advantage

The top of the table clash in Italy saw Conte’s former charges Juventus edge second-placed Roma 1-0 in Turin for a 25th straight league home win.

A first half goal from Gonzalo Higuain settled a tense affair, but leaves the reigning champion with a seven-point advantage at the top in search of its sixth straight Serie A title.

Argentina international Higuain dispossessed Daniele De Rossi, but still had much to do before scoring with a powerful shot which went in off the post in the 14th minute.

Juve also had the better of the second half, with a strong penalty appeal turned away and other chances to add to its tally.