Mourinho eyes EPL crown as Blues pull ahead

KINGSTON UPON HULL - Jose Mourinho believes that Chelsea are firmly on course to winning the Premier League, after extending their lead at the top to six points with a battling 3-2 victory at Hull.

The Blues, chasing their first English league crown since 2010, re-established their stranglehold on the title race thanks to Loic Remy's late winner at the KC Stadium on Sunday.

With Chelsea holding a game in hand on second-placed Manchester City, Mourinho says they are now firm favourites to lift the trophy.

"The title race should be over," he said. "The title race in normal conditions, Chelsea should have eight, 10, 12 points more than we have - title race over.

"But football is unpredictable and the reality is we have a six-point lead, which is our best situation for the whole season.

"The maximum lead we had was eight, but when we had eight, we had more matches to go.

"In this moment, we have a six-point lead, one match in hand, that can help us have a bigger distance with eight matches to go to our opponents.

"They (City) can make 24 points, if they can make 24 points. For us, it is a question of mathematics to see how much we need.

"I'm pretty confident. I believe in my players, I believe that we can do it."

Chelsea had to work for their win at Hull, despite making a flying start.

Goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa put Mourinho's team two goals ahead in the first nine minutes, but struggling Hull showed admirable determination to draw level with two goals in quick succession from Ahmed Elmohamady and Abel Hernandez before half-time.

Substitute Remy scored the winning goal with 13 minutes left after replacing the injured Costa.

Costa suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury that has bothered him since last season, and is a doubt for Spain's Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine on Friday.

"For Diego, (the international break) is good, because imagine we play three matches in one week, that's three matches he doesn't play," Mourinho said.

"I don't think it will need an operation. Our doctor is against surgery, against knives.

"We are all in favour of conservative work and collective work between (the) medical department and fitness technical staff. This is the direction we believe."