Nemanja Matic has warned the rest of the Premier League that his Chelsea side can still improve despite breaking a club record by winning for the 11th game in a row on Saturday.

On a foggy day in South London, Diego Costa’s first-half header was enough for the Blues to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points.

Antonio Conte’s men have been in sensational form in recent months and are now the clear 1.73 favourites to win the title.

Next up is the Boxing Day visit of Bournemouth, a game they are 1.36 to win, with the draw 4.75 and the Cherries 7.50.

Matic was brought back into the side for the trip to Selhurst Park and justified Conte’s faith by delivering a typically solid performance.

Despite his team’s superiority in the standings, the Serb insists they are taking nothing for granted and has warned the rest of the Premier League that there are still areas where they can improve.

“We can improve of course. Sometimes when we are 1-0 up we have to find a way to kill the game because 1-0 in the Premier League against a team like Crystal Palace is very dangerous, because they can score at any time,” Matic told the club’s official website.

“It is a long way to go. We are now almost halfway through the season and we still have many hard games so we are not favourites, we are just one of the teams that can now win the title and I am sure there are more than five teams that will try to catch us for first position.”