LONDON -- Antonio Conte warned his Chelsea players that it will be difficult to replicate their "incredible" first half of the season after a 4-2 victory over Stoke City extended their Premier League winning streak to 13 matches.
Goals from Gary Cahill, Willian and Diego Costa secured the Blues a hard-fought win against an awkward and spirited Stoke team, who matched Conte's 3-4-3 system and became the first Premier League opponents to beat Thibaut Courtois twice in a match since Arsenal in late September.
Chelsea have now equalled the Premier League record for consecutive wins in a single season set by Arsenal in the 2001-02 campaign, but Conte insists their path to the title will face more difficult obstacles in 2017.
"I think this first part of the season was incredible for us," Conte admitted. "It's very difficult to repeat this run. We've played 19 games, and to have won 16, drawn one and lost two is a great achievement. It's important to know it's not easy to repeat this run.
"It will be very difficult for us over what remains of this season. We started this season as underdogs, underestimated. And now we have the light of a great first part of the season on us.
"We [have shone] the light on Chelsea. We must realise this and we have to work more, harder still, to find, game by game, the right solution to try and win. It won't be easy but, today, we are very happy."
Chelsea took the lead on 34 minutes when Gary Cahill headed in a Cesc Fabregas corner at the near post, but Bruno Martins Indi poked in from Peter Crouch's knockdown to level the match for Stoke early in the second half before Willian and Costa eventually put the Blues out of reach.
Asked if his team had shown the character of champions, Conte replied: "For sure, they showed great character. It's not easy to recover. If you take the lead and then concede, then take the lead again and then concede a second. I was a footballer and I know it's not easy.
"I know this type of situation. You look at the minutes and you see you don't have a lot of time left to win the game, but my players were fantastic to find again the lead and deserve this win. I repeat: we deserved to win this game.
"Now it's not easy after 13 wins in a row, you face teams that want to beat you, not only to take three points but for many reasons. It's more difficult. We must know this. But when you have these types of players [as a manager], you can go to sleep happy."