Chelsea’s winning streak is piling the pressure on our Premier League title rivals, says Thibaut Courtois

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Simon Johnson15 December 2016

Thibaut Courtois believes Chelsea’s winning streak is inflicting a major psychological blow on their title rivals.

Chelsea claimed their 10th successive League victory at Sunderland last night, courtesy of a Cesc Fabregas strike, to move six points clear at the top of the table.

Arsenal lost at Everton on Tuesday and although Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Manchester United won last night, they have been struggling to match the Blues’ consistency.

Courtois thinks other sides are already worrying how they will catch the Blues. Speaking to Standard Sport, the goalkeeper said: “It’s good that our title rivals would have come back into the dressing room last night having won, Liverpool for example, and will have been thinking, ‘damn, Chelsea won as well’. That’s a good thing for us.

“Sunderland is a tough away game. People sometimes expect big teams to drop points against teams battling against relegation, but we were unlucky not to win by more. However, we need to keep standards high.

“On Saturday we are the first team to play [at Crystal Palace], so we have to show that we can get three points and then the others are under pressure to win as well.”

Courtois believes it will be difficult for anyone to stop Chelsea’s momentum. “When you’re on a run like this it gets easier,” added the Belgian. “Last year, we had a negative run and it’s really hard to get out of that. This year, it’s the other way around. In games like West Brom, Sunderland, Middlesbrough away, maybe we wouldn’t have won those last year. This season we are, so that’s very positive. Hopefully we will achieve another title but there is a long way to go.”

Chelsea's winning run in the Premier League under Antonio Conte

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Chelsea were without Eden Hazard for the first time in the top flight this term, Courtois’ Belgian team-mate being ruled out with a knee injury.

“Eden is one of the best in the world,” said Courtois. “When he’s not there, you’re going to miss him, but we showed we can be good without him.”

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