Jose Mourinho was in good spirits on Saturday afternoon following this relatively easy win for his league leaders against Steve Bruce’s Hull City, a side that, for all their endeavour, showed how big the gulf in class in the division can be.

Three points won’t come much easier this season for Chelsea, who maintained their lead over current champions Manchester City.

With decisions going against his side throughout the match, Bruce seemed resigned to the inevitable it seemed. Other managers would not have reacted as well as he did, especially given that he had genuine cause to be upset.

Chelsea were in the lead seven minutes into the match when Eden Hazard, their best performer on the day, put a header beyond Hull’s Allan McGregor. Oscar played a superb ball to his teammate who rose up over his marker to put his effort away.

Once they were in the lead, they seemed unlikely to give any ground to their opponents.

The Belgian playmaker created the second goal after the interval for Diego Costa, with a little assistance from the brilliant Branislav Ivanovic.

By that point Hull were down to 10 men after midfielder Tom Huddlestone had been sent off for a dangerous tackle on Chelsea’s Felipe Luis. After the match, Bruce had no complaints about this decision by referee Chris Foy, but instead chose to focus his remarks on the second yellow card that Chelsea’s Gary Cahill avoided despite a clear dive in the Hull penalty area.

“That’s England’s centre-half,” said Bruce. “He’s taken off looking to win the penalty. But when you watch it over, it’s like something out of Swan Lake.”

Bruce was angry that given Foy had already booked Willian and Costa for diving in the first half, Cahill should have received one too. It was hard not to agree. Mourinho defended his players, as you would expect, but we were here earlier this year with Chelsea too.

Bruce added: “It’s that blatant, that obvious, what he’s trying. In Latin countries it’s applauded. But people enjoy the Premier League because of the honesty and integrity.”