On Monday evening, #Chelsea became Champions Elect with one hand on the Premier League trophy. It has been coming for weeks if not months, but all neutrals were hoping that Tottenham Hotspur would have taken them up to the last day for a thrilling finale. It wasn't to be. Tottenham's defeat to West Ham left Chelsea's future in their own hands. A classy display at Stamford Bridge last night saw them easily breeze past Middlesbrough 3-0. The victory leaves Chelsea only 3 points, one win away from being crowned Champions. Defeat for Middlesbrough sealed their relegation to the Championship next year.

Classy champions elect put Middlesbrough to the sword.

Chelsea was everything that title winners should be, classy, decisive and winners. #Chelsea, with the amount of possession and chances had, could have been ahead much earlier. Yet, it wasn't until Diego Costa put the home side ahead just after the 20-minute mark that they started to make their possession count.

Marcus Alonso was another standout player as his performance alone showed that #Antonio Conte had sent them out full of confidence and ready to take the game to Middlesbrough with some scintillating attacking football. Arsenal fans will not be happy to see that Cesc Fabregas was named as man of the match last night.

Fabregas who was in the team as a replacement to the injured PFA Player of the Year, Kante showed his class and quality in midfield.

He was also the one to supply the assist to Matic for Chelsea's third of the night.

Middlesbrough was well aware that defeat at #Stamford Bridge would seal relegation to the Championship. Maybe, that is what accounted for such a poor showing on such an important night. However, as it takes a season to win a title, it also takes a season to show if your team is good enough to play at this level.

Middlesbrough has not scored enough goals within the season to give them a chance of picking up enough points.

Classy Conte looks to the future

As the final whistle went, #Conte showed a lot of class and made a lot of friends on Teeside. Rather than soaking up the adulation from his own fans and celebrating with his own players, went over to the away end and clapped all those that had travelled down to see the match.

Conte will need to show a little more than class if he is to start next season with #Diego Costa on his side. There have been a lot of rumours about whether Costa will leave Stamford Bridge for China where he is being enticed with a massive deal. Or, as some sources seem to be sharing, he might like the opportunity to try his craft in France, Paris playing for Paris St.Germain.

It is likely that he will need to invest heavily in the purchase of new players if he is to repeat his first season in the Premier League with back to back titles.

Decision time for Middlesbrough and Steve Gibson

Now with relegation to the Championship decided, some major decisions have to be made if Middlesbrough is to bounce back with promotion to Premier League next year.

When Aitor Karanka was fired in March, #Steve Agnew was only given the job to the end of the season.

Does he want the job? Who really is the best man to guide them through what is a tough league, with big name clubs that have a tremendous fan base and financial backing.

Fans could never say that Steve Gibson is not prepared to back the manager in the transfer market. However, maybe there needs to be a serious look at their transfer policies. The transfers of Rudy Gestede and Patrick Bamford in the January window did not deliver.

Time for Middlesborough to dust themselves down and go again.
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