LONDON - Diego Costa ended a seven-game goal drought in style to help Chelsea open up a seven-point lead in the Premier League with a 4-2 victory over Southampton on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Huddersfield Town guaranteed their place in the Championship's four-team playoffs with a 1-0 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.
Blues captain John Terry, who is leaving the club at the end of the season, came on late in the match to make his first league appearance since November.
After setting up Eden Hazard's fifth-minute opener at Stamford Bridge, Costa netted two contrasting goals in the second half. The striker's 50th Premier League goal was a header from Cesc Fabregas' cross and the second was the culmination of a mazy run that saw him exchange passes with Hazard and Pedro Rodriguez.
Gary Cahill also scored as Chelsea nudged closer to regaining the trophy from Leicester after seeing its lead trimmed in recent weeks by Tottenham. Second-place Tottenham is now on the back foot as it prepares to play Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
But one potential obstacle to Chelsea's winning the title on the five-match final stretch remains the leaky defense, with Southampton's former Chelsea duo Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand making it 12 league games since Antonio Conte's side kept a clean sheet.