LONDON, May 14: Roman Abramovich is poised to make Antonio Conte the highest paid manager in Chelsea’s history and bankroll a £200million summer spend as reward for winning the Premier League title.

Chelsea are also confident that Eden Hazard will sign a new £300,000-a-week contract after holding positive talks with the Belgian over his future in the days leading up to Friday night’s title success at West Bromwich Albion.

Head coach Conte, who has suggested that he will stay at Stamford Bridge, wants to add greater depth and versatility to his Chelsea squad for next season, so he can swap between the 3-4-3 formation that has been so successful and his favoured 4-2-4.

Chelsea owner Abramovich is expected to grant Conte his wish in the transfer market and also reflect the current going rate for top managers in an improved new contract.

Conte’s current deal is worth £6.5m-a-year, less than Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp are paid, while Mourinho’s last contract at Chelsea earned him £7.5m-a-year.

Inter Milan are willing to pay Conte £12.5m-a-year deal to quit Stamford Bridge, but Abramovich will offer the 47-year-old the biggest salary for a manager in Chelsea’s history and ensure he leapfrogs both Klopp and Wenger in the earnings list.

Chelsea are adamant that Real Madrid target Hazard will not be sold in the summer and are understood to have told the 26-year-old that he can achieve all of his ambitions at Stamford Bridge during an encouraging meeting.

With the club willing to hand him a new £300,000-a-week contract, Hazard gave Chelsea further reason for optimism by giving an interview in which he claimed he could win the Ballon d’Or with his current employers.

Chelsea already have £60m sitting in the bank from the January sale of Oscar and, together with the return of Champions League football next season, the club can afford to give Conte the funds to significantly boost his squad.

Striker Romelu Lukaku, who Everton value at £100m, is a top target, along with central defender Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko. Conte is also looking for a full-back and a wide player to allow him to play a 4-2-4 when he so wishes.

There will be departures this summer with captain John Terry going, back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic likely to leave and Nathan Ake keen to play regular first-team football. Major doubts also remain over the future of striker Diego Costa, who Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian are confident of signing.

Asked whether he could 100 per cent guarantee he will be Chelsea manager next season, Conte replied: “Yeah, yeah. But I think we started to work, to do our work, and we have to improve in the next season and to find the right solution to improve.

“We work only nine months together and I think if you continue with these players you can improve a lot. I think the club wants to fight to win every competition and we have the same ambition, and for this reason we try to keep the best players.”

Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is confident the club will fight off Inter Milan’s interest in Conte and believes this could be a new “golden generation” of Blues players if the squad is kept to together and added to.

“We’ve all heard the stories about Inter Milan wanting Conte and I am sure the club will want to put that to bed as soon as possible,” said Lampard. “They (Chelsea) will want to reward him for this – as all top teams do.

“It’s not just the manager. There’s talk about Hazard, about Costa, about Courtois. But you can’t win titles or go into the Champions League without having top players who can make the difference.

“This year, players like Costa and Hazard have made that difference, so Chelsea will be desperate to keep them.

“I hope it can be the next golden generation for Chelsea, but it is going to be hard for any one team to dominate the Premier League again over a number of seasons.

“Chelsea will have to improve and they will do that because they will have to deal with Champions League football.

“I think they will have to add to the squad. A club like Chelsea will always look to add, but they will have to add players who are top class. There’s no point bringing in players who aren’t better than they have got already.

“That’s going to be tough because the team they have got already looks almost complete. But they must also make sure they keep hold of their best players.”

LONDON, May 9: Cesc Fabregas sparkled as Chelsea moved to within touching distance of the Premier League title and condemned Middlesbrough to relegation with a breezy 3-0 home win.

Fabregas made sure Chelsea capitalised on Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 defeat at West Ham United on Friday by setting up goals for Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic, with Marcos Alonso also finding the net yesterday.

It left Chelsea seven points clear of Spurs at the summit and means they will be crowned champions for the second time in three seasons if they win at West Bromwich Albion on Friday.

“At this stage it was important to win and exploit Tottenham’s defeat,” said Chelsea manager Antonio Conte.

“Now, another step to the title. We have to rest well and prepare for West Brom. We must try in the next game to become champions.”

Should Chelsea fail to take maximum points at The Hawthorns, subsequent home games against Watford and relegated Sunderland mean Conte’s side have plenty of margin for error.

Fabregas has now assisted 10 or more goals in six different English top-flight seasons — a record in the Premier League era.

Boro return to the Championship after one season back among the elite, joining Sunderland in sinking into the second tier just as fellow northeast side Newcastle United are celebrating their return to the top level.

“I’ve just come away from a silent dressing room,” Boro manager Steve Agnew told Sky Sports.

“It’s a terrific club and it’s about how we reflect over the summer. We need to make sure Boro bounce back very quickly.”

Chelsea were missing N’Golo Kante — named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year earlier in the day — due to a thigh injury, but the Frenchman’s absence was to prove a blessing in disguise.

It brought Fabregas into the team and the Spaniard immediately set about laying waste to Middlesbrough’s defensive plans with a succession of accurate, strafing passes.

He seemed particularly taken by the space behind Boro right back Fabio da Silva.

Little slow-moving traffic

Alonso twice received passes from his countryman in that area in the early stages, seeing a half-volley pushed onto the bar by Boro goalkeeper Brad Guzan and then drilling a dangerous cross across goal.

Fabregas side-footed wide from an Eden Hazard cut-back and Costa came within inches of bundling in Hazard’s low cross before the hosts went ahead in the 23rd minute, with Fabregas inevitably the source.

Fabio, stretching, managed to get his right foot to the former Barcelona midfielder’s chipped pass, but succeeded only in hooking the ball straight at Costa.

The Spain international cushioned the ball and tucked a shot between Guzan’s legs for his 20th goal of the campaign.

Chelsea’s second goal, in the 34th minute, sprang from similar circumstances, instigated by Cesar Azpilicueta’s probing pass from the inside-right channel.

From a prohibitive angle at the back post, Alonso drilled a shot towards goal and saw the ball ricochet of Guzan’s left thigh and bounce into the net.

Fabregas was at it again shortly after with a raking pass that freed Victor Moses, whose shot obliged Guzan to save with his legs.

Boro’s bus had been delayed on its way to the ground, but to their dismay, there was little slow-moving traffic to be found inside Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea resumed their assault on the visitors’ goal in the second half, Pedro grazing the bar from Hazard’s lay-off and Azpilicueta pinging a shot narrowly over.

Costa could only get a couple of studs on a fierce Alonso cross, Gary Cahill almost surprised Guzan with a rasping drive and Fabregas saw a deflected effort bobble agonisingly wide.

The third goal arrived 20 minutes into the second period and owed once again to the inventive brilliance of Fabregas.

His flicked pass was chested down by Matic, who arrowed a low shot between the legs of the overworked Guzan.-AFP

LONDON, May 8: Finally the “Specialist in Failure” got one over the “Special One”. Quite how much this Arsenal win will mean at the end of the season remains to be seen, in what was frankly a low-quality skirmish ­between the also-rans, but at last Arsène Wenger tasted victory in a proper competitive match, and in the Premier League, against Jose Mourinho. At the 15th attempt.

Yet how competitive was this game which rekindled Arsenal’s hopes of ending up in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League – which would be remarkable in this traumatically uncertain season – and also led Mourinho to declare that it would be “impossible” for Manchester United to now finish that high in the league?

The United manager has put everything on winning the Europa League – and gaining admission to the Champions League by that route – with the second leg of their semi-final against Celta Vigo to come this week with his side leading 1-0. “We go with everything on Thursday,” Mourinho declared – and so he has to progress at Old Trafford and win the final.

He has talked down United’s chances in the league and it seems to have become a self-fulfilling prophecy with ready-made excuses. Mourinho will argue that he is just being realistic. Meanwhile, Arsenal have to go for it in the league. It is their only option – and so it showed.

LONDON, May 7: Swansea City have climbed out of the Premier League’s relegation zone with a 1-0 win against Everton, giving their survival aspirations a significant boost.

After Hull City suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat against relegated Sunderland earlier in the day, Fernando Llorente’s first-half header sealed a precious win for the Welsh side.

The Swans defended resiliently for large periods of the second half but could have extended their lead, and eased the growing tension around the Liberty Stadium, had Llorente and Leroy Fer done better with promising chances amid the Everton pressure.

Swansea, who have 35 points, face bottom-of-the-table Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion in their final two games while Hull, on 34 points, play Crystal Palace and finish with a difficult game against Tottenham Hotspur.

Everton sit seventh with 58 points from 36 games.

Hull City’s hopes of avoiding Premier League relegation suffered a body blow after goals from Billy Jones and Jermain Defoe condemned them to a 2-0 home defeat by already axed Sunderland.

The result left Hull one place above the drop zone in 17th on 34 points from 36 games.

Right back Jones headed in a 69th-minute opener against the run of play and Defoe bundled in the second goal in stoppage time, although video replays showed he was offside when a free kick from the right was delivered into his path.

Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford enjoyed a superb afternoon as he pulled off a string of excellent saves, denying Sam Lucas, Lazar Markovic and Abel Hernandez as Hull pressed forward relentlessly but were let down by poor finishing.

Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross deflected the ball into his own net to earn Bournemouth a 2-2 draw and ensure the Cherries will play Premier League football again next season.

Stoke had not scored away from home since January and it was Bournemouth midfielder Lys Mousset who broke the drought, heading Marko Arnautovic’s corner into his own goal in the 33rd minute.

Junior Stanislas deftly guided home the equaliser for Bournemouth on the hour mark before Stoke striker Mame Biram Diouf scored his first Premier League goal of the season.

Shawcross deflected Josh King’s shot into his own net with eight minutes left to leave Bournemouth 10th in the table, three places ahead of Stoke.

Leicester City have climbed into the top half of the Premier League for the first time since September after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Watford.

With both teams safely in mid-table, the opening exchanges lacked energy until Wilfred Ndidi finished emphatically after Danny Drinkwater’s cross was not dealt with by Watford’s defence.

Having earlier hit the crossbar, Riyad Mahrez, playing his 100th Premier League match, doubled the advantage by capitalising on more sloppy defending to stab home in the 58th minute.

Marc Albrighton completed the victory with an excellent third, finishing off the woodwork after Jamie Vardy’s break in the 93rd minute.

Leicester, who fell as low as 18th in February, climbed to ninth with 43 points from 35 games – three more than Watford in 15th.

Manchester City have strengthened their Premier League top-four aspirations with a 5-0 thrashing of a woeful Crystal Palace side at the Etihad Stadium.

City never looked back after David Silva’s 50th goal for the club in the second minute on Saturday, although it was not until the second half that the floodgates opened with Vincent Kompany, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi all on target.

Victory moved City into third place with 69 points, above Liverpool on goal difference. Fifth-placed Manchester United, who play Arsenal on Sunday, have 65.

Palace’s third consecutive defeat means they are still anxiously looking over their shoulders at the teams below them.

Burnley have edged a point closer to Premier League survival after Sam Vokes scored a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion.

Vokes had given Burnley the lead in the 56th minute but West Brom hit back with goals by Salomon Rondon and Craig Dawson.

With five minutes remaining Vokes looped a header over Ben Foster who found himself out of position.

Burnley need one point from two games to be mathematically assured of a second successive top-flight season.

MANCHESTER, April 28: Manchester United were able to withstand 10 men in the final minutes following the dismissal of Marouane Fellaini for the header that gave Sergio Agüero, taking a 0-0 draw at Manchester City on Thursday at the Liga Premier, keeping red hot the pulse for the squares of the next Champions League.

Fellaini, United’s spunky Belgian midfielder, was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the 83rd minute when he faced Argentina’s Agüero, knocking him down. Just 19 seconds earlier, Fellaini had been admonished by a stumbling block to Agüero.

United coach Jose Mourinho did not want to criticize his player, saying that Fellaini considered that he was expelled for his bad reputation and that Agüero “did not leave with a broken nose, with nothing in the head” when he saw the attacker of the City in the tunnel .

“He can not see the play well, but I suppose he had something for a red and he had something with an Argentine player who is very experienced, alive.”

The City crossed again to the scoring scorer Gabriel Jesus in search of a bit about the end. The Brazilian striker shouted at the rebates, but the goal was nullified by a forward position in a tense final at Etihad Stadium.

Mourinho appealed to an ultra-defensive scheme, suffocating another of the Premier’s heavyweights. But perhaps the goalless draw will not be a result that ultimately benefits the team.

United remain in fifth place, one rung and one point behind City, with five dates in the bid for the Premier League’s top four.

Liverpool lead by one point to the City, with a game more than both Manchester clubs.

The top three will qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, while the fourth will play a preliminary stage.

“I think the City will be among the top four,” said Mourinho. “For the parties that will have to play, I think they will achieve it. I think it will be defined between us, Arsenal and Liverpool. ”

United face the most demanding schedule, with visits to Tottenham and Arsenal, in addition to continuing in the Europa League. They are also handicapped by injuries, which is compounded by Fellaini’s imminent three-game suspension.

But as they become just the second team, after Stoke, who prevents City from scoring a goal this season at home, United stretched their unbeaten streak to 24, which goes back to a backhand Chelsea in October.

“We have the quality,” City Manager Pep Guardiola said. “But it’s not easy with both players behind the ball.”

Mourinho commented that United was “the best team in the first half … and the best in the second. It was awesome how they fought. ”

Claudio Bravo, Chile’s Chilean goalkeeper, had to leave the game on a stretcher shortly before Fellaini’s expulsion after injuring himself after a corner kick.

In three City-United matches this season, two in the league and the other in the League Cup, Mourinho and Guardiola won a duel and tied the other.-AP