Chelsea Football Club of London have won the 2015 English Premier League title after beating visiting Crystal Palace this afternoon at their Stamford Bridge home ground.

Jose Mourinho’s side needed three points to complete the triumph that has become an inevitability in recent weeks as they moved out of sight of their rivals to reclaim the crown from Manchester City – with three matches remaining to conclude the season.

Victory was secured by Eden Hazard’s goal on the stroke of half-time, the Belgian heading past Julian Speroni after the Palace goalkeeper had saved the PFA Player of the Year’s penalty.

That gave Mourinho his third title as Chelsea manager, and the first of his second spell in charge. It is the club’s fifth top-flight title and comes five years after their last and 60 years since their first.

The celebrations that swept around Stamford Bridge at the final whistle were fully deserved for a Chelsea side who set the pace from the start of the season.

They played with flair and verve to make an all-conquering start, then showed the ruthless efficiency that is the hallmark of all Mourinho sides after losing leading scorer Diego Costa for a crucial closing phase of the campaign.

At the head of it all was the master strategist Mourinho, adding the title to the Capital One Cup won against Tottenham at Wembley and vindicating Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s decision to turn, once again, to the manager who brought him his first successes with titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Banners were draped from the Shed End at Stamford Bridge in honour of Mourinho, bearing slogans such as “The Special One – He’s One Of Us”.

This decisive victory over Palace may not have been achieved with sparkling football but the title win was closed out with the nerveless professionalism of a team that knew what needed to be done and did it – as they have so often.

•BBC photo shows Chelsea players celebrating their triumph . . . this afternoon at Stamford Bridge, London.

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