Antonio Conte plays it cool over Chelsea Premier League title bid after downing Southampton

Antonio Conte insists it is too soon to label Chelsea as Premier League title contenders after his side maintained their impressive run with a 2-0 victory at Southampton.

Conte’s team have reeled off four successive league wins for the first time in 18 months and they sit just one point behind leaders Manchester City following their no-nonsense display at St Mary’s on Sunday.

Eden Hazard opened the scoring with a clinical strike in the sixth minute and Diego Costa’s sublime curler in the second half wrapped up the points for the Blues.

Chelsea have double the number of points they had at the same stage of a miserable campaign last season and the confident nature of their performance against in-form Southampton suggests Conte is beginning to make his presence felt.

The Chelsea boss wouldn’t be drawn into declaring his side potential champions, although he did admit he is feeling increasingly confident that his rebuilding job is taking shape.

“If you ask me a prediction about the championship, it is very difficult. It is important to pass the first part of the season, then after Christmas you see if you can fight for the title,” the Italian said.