Diego Costa and Eden Hazard Get Chelsea Fans off Their Feet in Easy Win

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — Ahead of West Bromwich Albion's visit to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fans held up banners asking to be allowed to stand when watching matches.

"If you want an atmosphere, let us stand," they read.

It was a reaction to Jose Mourinho's comments the last time Chelsea were playing in west London when the manager was critical of the noise the home support generated in the 2-1 win over QPR.

Whether the club's hierarchy got the message isn't clear, but it seemed the players did as they put in a performance that had the crowd on its feet.

This was Chelsea at their mesmeric best, with Mourinho's full-strength side frighteningly dominant against the Baggies. They cruised to a 2-0 victory and three points.

At the heart of it were Diego Costa and Eden Hazard once more, each finding himself on the scoresheet to cap off fine individual displays.

"The first half was brilliant, beautiful," Mourinho told the gathered media. "The quality of football was high quality, another dimension. We were playing so well, so fast, so fluid.

"We made the pitch very, very wide. We created spaces to play inside and scored two goals. We should have scored much more than that and it was fantastic."

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Indeed, Chelsea should have, but it would be hypercritical to focus on the scoreline on the back of an excellent display.

They won, which was the important thing. And they did so in some style. The fact that they are disappointed in only scoring two is a bigger concern for their fellow title contenders, not for Chelsea.

Mourinho remains on message when it comes to discussing his team's Premier League pursuit, so much so that not one journalist even bothered asking him the oft-repeated question of whether Chelsea were already champions.

With performances like this, perhaps there is no need. It would be rhetorical.

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Chelsea are playing football like no other club in England right now.

While Manchester City were spluttering to a victory of their own on Saturday, Mourinho's Blues had their foot completely off the gas come the hour mark, knowing their dominance—and Claudio Yacob's first-half red card for an awful challenge on Costa—had this game wrapped up.

Chelsea were content to pass the ball around without purpose after the interval—an approach Mourinho wasn't too disappointed with given the circumstances.

"I'm always annoyed," the manager joked when asked if he was frustrated about how the intensity dropped late on.

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"The players know that, but sometimes I have to realise there are reasons for things: national team matches, people that had to play two matches in a row, coming back and travel.

"The players know they have a marathon of matches [coming up]. They play in Germany on Tuesday, so the intensity went down. ... You have to think first about the points and we did that very well."

That's the difference with this team. They're controlling opponents in ways they struggled to last year, and they're comfortable and able enough to put necessity first.

When Mourinho said his team needed to mature into champions, this is what he meant. He wanted to see his team making decisions in games that impacted the ebb and flow.

It's points first, performances second. They're beginning to develop that ruthless streak that defined those championship-winning teams of 2005 and 2006.

Defeating West Brom was the complete package, though: It was performance and points.

Even before Yacob's 29th-minute dismissal, the Baggies were chasing shadows. The combination play of Hazard, Oscar and Willian meant the defence struggled to pick them up, and even with 10 men camped behind the ball, Chelsea found space.

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Costa's movement continues to give Chelsea an edge, and despite being offside when he scored the game's opener, even West Brom manager Alan Irvine couldn't criticise his wonderful finish.

"It was a great finish," he said. "It was a great chest and finish, but it was offside. I can't blame our players for what was an incorrect decision."

If standing or being seated is the biggest concern at Stamford Bridge right now, pity the rest of the Premier League.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes