Chelsea 5-0 Everton: Hazard at the double as Conte's men go top
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The Blues put in a superb display to leapfrog
Manchester City at the top of the table and crush Ronald Koeman's side
with the Belgium international back to his very best form
Not since winning the 2014-15 title have Chelsea led the top flight, but they took advantage of Manchester City's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough earlier on Saturday to do so, though Arsenal or Liverpool could displace them by winning their respective matches on Sunday.
Antonio Conte's team, unchanged for the fourth straight league match, ran riot and punished visiting manager Ronald Koeman for his decision to switch to a three-man defence.
That surprise tactical change came despite Everton having ended a run of five games in all competitions without a win at home to West Ham last time out.
Hazard opened the scoring in the 18th minute, converting for the fourth successive league game for the first time in his career, before Marcos Alonso opened his Chelsea account with his maiden goal for the club just 70 seconds later.
Koeman sent Kevin Mirallas on for Bryan Oviedo in a bid to add stability through a more familiar formation, but the hosts continued to dominate and Diego Costa fired home three minutes before the interval.
Hazard struck a sensational second 11 minutes into the second half before Pedro added a goal to his two assists, rounding off a phenomenal display of attacking football that extends Chelsea's unbeaten run at home against Everton to 22 matches.
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