Hull City 0 Chelsea 2: Hazard lights up win which offers Hull warning

It meant a club record set by Peter Bonetti in 1979 had been usurped by the 31-year-old, who is now just 20 shut-outs away from eclipsing David Seaman’s Premier League record of 170.

Even allowing for the fact that statistics can be bent to suit most arguments, Cech’s consistency in the Blues’ goal since joining from Rennes in 2004 is incredible.

It is doubtful, however, that the clean sheet which allowed the Czech international to surpass Bonetti will go down as one of his most memorable in almost 10 years at Stamford Bridge.

Cech had only one real save of note to make on his third visit to the KC Stadium, a rasping shot from just outside the area by Jake Livermore midway through the first half being pushed away acrobatically at full stretch.

Other than that, he had just an early effort from Ahmed Elmohamady to deal with, that bounced awkwardly just in front of him, as Hull found creating chances against Jose Mourinho’s title challengers a much harder task than had been the case a fortnight earlier against Chelsea’s hapless West London neighbours Fulham.

And even when the Tigers did fashion a clear-cut opening – courtesy of Livermore forcing a rare mistake out of John Terry on 26 minutes – the home side were unable to take advantage thanks to a wasteful finish from Yannick Sagbo, who blazed wide despite being unmarked and having just Cech to beat from 10 yards.

As the ball sailed adrift of the target, the hope for the home fans in a sell-out crowd of 24,924 was that further openings would come the way of their side.

The reality, however, was rather different with Chelsea, after being matched by Hull in the first half, taking full control of proceedings after the restart to go on and win comfortably.

Eden Hazard, the game’s outstanding performer, and Fernando Torres got the goals but, in truth, it was the clinical manner of their second-half performance that suggested Chelsea are going to have a big say in how the title race develops in the coming months.

As for Hull, some days a team just has to hold up their hands and admit they were beaten by a better side.

Saturday, or the second half at least, most definitely fell into that category as Elmohamady admitted.

“We were better in the first half, they were better in the second half,” was the Egyptian’s summing up of Chelsea’s fourth visit to the KC, a run of games that has yielded three wins for the London club and 10 goals to just one in reply from the Tigers.

“We played well and created some chances in the first half, more than Chelsea. But the first goal changed the game. After the first one, we had to try and fight back for the draw.

“Yannick Sagbo’s chance was a big one. It was great play from Jake and a big chance for Yannick. If we had scored that one, it could have been a different game.”

Elmohamady’s belief that Hull were superior to the visitors in the first half is debatable. Equal, yes, but superior is pushing things a tad.

Chelsea, like Hull, had their own glaring miss to bemoan at the interval. Unlike the hosts, this time it was goalkeeping brilliance on the part of Allan McGregor and not wasteful finishing that saw the Blues fail to find the net.

Oscar was the unfortunate Chelsea player to be denied, the unmarked Brazilian’s 33rd-minute shot from eight yards looking every inch a goal until McGregor somehow diverted the ball over with his out-stretched right hand.

It was a stunning save. What it was not, though, was the defining moment of the contest.

That came 11 minutes after half-time courtesy of Hazard. By then, McGregor had followed up his save from Oscar with another couple of fine stops to keep out free-kicks by David Luiz either side of the interval.

McGregor, though, could do nothing to prevent Hazard claiming his 10th goal of the season with another strike that will live long in the memory.

The Belgian started and finished a move that also included a deft Luiz flick from Ashley Cole’s pass, Alex Bruce being left flat on his backside by a clever shimmy from Hazard that created just enough space to fire beyond McGregor from the edge of the area.

After that, Chelsea, despite playing in what seemed to be second or third gear, were rarely troubled and the only surprise was it took until three minutes from time for any hopes the home side had of snatching a point to be killed off.

Bruce was again the last man as Torres, after collecting a pass from Luiz, showed tremendous poise to nudge the ball beyond the Hull defender and then fire past McGregor.

The game was up for Hull, who in the second half had looked jaded and lacking a spark that manager Steve Bruce hopes will come this week via the double capture of long-time target Shane Long, the West Bromwich Albion striker who almost joined the Tigers in the summer transfer window, and Everton forward Nikica Jelavic for a combined fee of £14m.

Asked about the possibility of additions being made before the weekend trip to Norwich City, winger Elmohamady said: “Every team wants one more up front to score goals.

“The players here are absolutely fantastic, but the manager likes to change sometimes. That is up to the manager. Anyone that will come into the team, we will welcome them.

“We now have important games coming up, with our next two away games being against Norwich and Crystal Palace. We must get three points against Norwich. So, we must forget Chelsea.

“I am still confident we will stay in the Premier League, very confident.”