Hard work paying off for Chelsea, says Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte hailed Chelsea's work ethic after they recorded a fourth straight clean sheet in their 2-0 victory at Southampton.

Goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa ensured Chelsea left St Mary's with all three points on Super Sunday.

Chelsea are yet to concede since switching to three centre-backs, having been dispatched 3-0 by Arsenal the last time they lined-up in a 4-4-2 formation.

Conte's side now sit in fourth place in the Premier League - just one point behind leaders Manchester City, who are ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal on goal difference.

"I'm very happy because I saw great commitment and work-rate during the game from all the players, with and without the ball," Conte told Sky Sports "This is the right way to play, because when we work together against a very strong team, I think that I as the coach must be very happy after this performance."

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"It's fantastic that for a fourth game we did not concede a goal, and also we scored two goals and created many chances. We are working very hard."

Following Chelsea's 4-0 win over Manchester United last week, Conte refused to admit his side were title contenders, and the Italian remained equally coy after their latest win.

"I have the same opinion," Conte added. "Now it's early to answer and speak about title contenders, I repeat that we must work very hard to continue because this is the right way, but we can and must improve.

"After the first part of the season I can tell more about this run."

"We played against United and scored early as well, but when you play away it's different because the home support push the team, but our supporters were saying great things.

"They were fantastic from the first minute until the end. I want to say thank you to our support, from me and my players, because we won this game together - the players on the pitch, and the supporters as well."