Chelsea will finish a weekend top of the Premier League table for the first time since they were crowned champions in 2015 courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium this afternoon.
Diego Costa got the only goal of the game to make it six wins in a row for Antonio Conte's side, all of which have come without conceding a goal.
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Chelsea's faultless form since switching to a 3-4-3 formation saw Conte name an unchanged side for a fifth consecutive Premier League game - the first time they have ever done so in the Premier League.
The opening exchanges did not follow the form book, though, with Middlesbrough holding their own as they went in search of back-to-back home wins in the top flight for the first time since August 2008.
The hosts had the first decent attacking opportunity too when Gaston Ramirez - back in the side after a one-game ban - was released down the left flank, but his pass towards an unmarked Marten de Roon in the middle was behind the Dutchman and the chance broke down.
Chelsea did soon begin to gain a measure of control over the game and it took a fine save from Victor Valdes to keep the scores level shortly before the half-hour mark.
Eden Hazard, making his 150th Premier League appearance for Chelsea, chipped a clever pass over the defence for Victor Moses, who in turn pulled it back into the middle for Pedro. The Spaniard swept his finish towards goal, only to be denied by the fingertips of his former Barcelona teammate.
Pedro had another promising opening shortly afterwards having been picked out by Costa, but his attempted low ball towards Hazard was too close to Valdes and the Boro keeper gratefully collected it.
The hosts had their clearest sight of goal of the first half with just under 10 minutes remaining when Alvaro Negredo got on the end of a cross from the right, but he was distracted by teammate Ramirez and couldn't steer his header on target.
Moses was proving to be a valuable attacking outlet on the right for Chelsea, and his deflected effort resulted in the corner that led to the opening goal. Boro failed to deal with the initial ball into the box, and Costa was the first to react, volleying his finish past Valdes for his 10th league goal of the season.
The visitors almost doubled their advantage just seconds after the interval too as they came sweeping forward from kickoff, but Marcos Alonso's subsequent effort was kept out by Valdes before Calum Chambers lifted the rebound over his own crossbar.
Boro managed to weather an early second-half storm from Chelsea and soon began to come back into the match themselves, but Ramirez and Adama Traore both failed to make the most of promising positions.
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Chelsea continued to carry their own threat during an end-to-end period of the game, though, and Pedro was inches away from giving the visitors a cushion shortly after the hour mark when his well-controlled half-volley from Costa's knockdown crashed against the underside of the crossbar.
A blistering counter-attack provided Chelsea with another fine chance moments later as Costa poked the ball through to Moses, but the wing-back blazed his effort over the bar with only the keeper to beat.
Thibaut Courtois was finally called into his first meaningful save of the contest with a little over 10 minutes remaining, getting down well to push Negredo's strike away after the Spaniard had done brilliantly to collect Traore's wayward pass.
David Luiz fired a dipping free kick narrowly over the top as Chelsea went in search of a second goal, but one proved to be enough for the visitors despite Boro applying some late pressure.
The win means that Chelsea now sit one point clear of Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table having won six top-flight games in a row for the first time since September 2009.
It is also only the 10th occasion in Premier League history that a team has won six consecutive matches without conceding, and Chelsea are now responsible for half of those.
Boro, meanwhile, remain 15th in the table, just one point clear of the relegation zone having only managed one win from their last 10 league outings.
Barney Corkhill
