Chelsea were comfortable 3-0 winners at the KC Stadium and, but for a host of squandered opportunities, could have really punished Hull. Blues boss Luiz Felipe Scolari was pleased his side kept up the pressure on Liverpool: "We need to understand that when we miss two or three chances in other games that we will not win. We may not have so many chances in other games we play," he said.

"We had good chances to score more than three goals and we need more concentration."

However, the Chelsea boss was generally happy with how his side handled an in-form Hull City side who have not conceded in their last four outings.

"It's difficult because they are tall and jump well and many are dangerous but I think our full-backs and central defenders played well and gave minimal chances to Hull City.

"They play a lot of long high balls and one or two times if you make a mistake they have a chance to score. This is their system and I think my players did well against it as they gave few chances to them."

And Scolari is confident his side can keep pace with the Reds saying: "Because we follow Liverpool we need to play every game to win then maybe when we play Liverpool again we will get the chance to get back into top position."