Premier League leaders Chelsea moved eight points clear at the summit courtesy of a 2-0 victory over struggling Hull on Sunday.
Antonio Conte welcomed striker Diego Costa back into his starting eleven after missing the trip to Leicester last weekend, and the Spaniard repaid his manager’s faith with the opener at Stamford Bridge.
Gary Cahill nodded home a second nine minutes later to secure an 18th win of the campaign for the Blues, who have stamped their complete authority on the title race.
That’s because second place Tottenham and third place Liverpool both dropped points over the weekend, with Spurs coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, while Jurgen Klopp’s Reds went down 3-2 at home to bottom side Swansea.
It now means that Arsenal are up to second after they left it late to beat Burnley 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium, with Alexis Sanchez’s 98th minute penalty securing the three points, while sixth place Manchester United needed a record-breaking Wayne Rooney goal to snatch a 1-1 draw at Stoke.
Everton recorded a third successive league win at the expense of Crystal Palace, while West Brom remain eighth after beating relegation-threatened Sunderland 2-0 at the Hawthorns – a result which sees David Moyes’ side fall to the bottom of the division.
Elsewhere, Southampton picked up their first league win of 2017 by comfortably dispatching champions Leicester 3-0 at St Mary’s, West Ham moved into the top half with a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough, and Bournemouth twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Watford.
In what was a thrilling weekend of Premier League action, many supporters took to social media to express their views, with Chelsea and specifically Costa provoking quite the response of Twitter…
Tough game against Hull today, but #Chelsea managed to get the job done in the end. Costa's performance spoke volumes! #CFC #CHEHUL #PL
— Steven (@StevenPayne89) January 22, 2017
Top of the table. 8 points clear. Costa back amongst the goals. Great day. #CFC
— Rafay (@rafayb26_) January 22, 2017
52 goals for @diegocosta in 100 appearances for #CFC. What a man! #Costa
— Declan McCarthy (@dec11mcc) January 22, 2017
Played decently today, Hull were difficult to break down but once Costa scored we were ok. 8 points clear now, onto the next one #cfc
— Guy ⭐️⭐️ (@KanteEdition) January 22, 2017
Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s long-standing record as Manchester United’s all-time top goal-scorer at the weekend, and Twitter saluted the England captain for a sensational achievement…
https://twitter.com/kaoss_s/status/822952069585838081
https://twitter.com/DanMUFC68/status/823107729099227136
Congratulations to Wayne Rooney for surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton record tally of 249 goals for Manchester United. True legend. #mufc
— Senzo Memeza (@Senzo31) January 22, 2017
Arsenal left it very late to see off Sean Dyche’s Burnley, yet the win was still met by mixed reactions from some Gunners fans…
https://twitter.com/Arsenal49News/status/823245606831452161
https://twitter.com/RobAnt80/status/823213261055266817
Great performance from @arsenal. This is the type of spirit that wins silverware. #afc #wearearsenal
— Yila Bako 🇳🇬 (@realyilabako) January 22, 2017
Manchester City drew 2-2 at home to in-form Tottenham on Saturday evening, and many City supporters were delighted with their side’s display…
A great performance by @ManCity . Bad luck as few decisions didn't went our way, Otherwise we were surely in for 3 points. #MCFCvTHFC #MCFC
— Manchester City Pune Supporters Club (MCPSC) (@ManCityPune) January 22, 2017
Some performance from city this evening, we didn't get the result we desivered but we are back to nearly our best # in pep we trust #MCFC
— Niall Whyte (@nialliwhyte) January 22, 2017
How we didn't win that I'll never know, but what a performance looking more of a force and can only get better! #mcfc
— Rob Mason (@RobDogg92) January 21, 2017
While some Spurs fans valued the result more than their team’s performance at the Etihad Stadium…
I'll take that, quite a poor performance yet still a point away at city! #COYS #THFC #SPURS #TOTTENHAM
— Say NO To Digital ID 🏴 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@GlennHutton) January 21, 2017
Seasons gone by #Spurs would've capitulated after #Lloris errors, a point gained considering a pretty poor performance! #COYS #THFC #MCITOT
— Patrick Owgan (@PaddyOwgan) January 21, 2017
It was not a good weekend for Liverpool, who lost 3-2 at home to Swansea and Saturday, and it was unsurprisingly met by angry and frustrated reactions from Reds fans…
Disgusting performance from the reds today can't have league aspirations with home defeats as poor as that #LFC
— pwez (@PwezP) January 21, 2017
Shocking performance today,Took us to 2-0 down to create a chance against a poor team and then bottled it again at 2-2! #LFC
— Graham ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (@grahamlfc85) January 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/dayjkelly/status/822848486911733761