LEICESTER -- Antonio Conte hailed the improvement of goalscorers Alvaro Morata and N'Golo Kante after Chelsea earned their third Premier League victory in a row by beating Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium.
Morata broke the deadlock in the 41st minute when he headed his third goal of the season beyond Kasper Schmeichel from an inviting Cesar Azpilicueta cross, and Kante found the net with a low shot from 25 yards shortly after the interval to double Chelsea's lead.
Leicester rallied and forced a frantic finale after Jamie Vardy won and converted a penalty in the 62nd minute, but Chelsea held on and speaking after the match, Conte chose to highlight the players who made the difference for his side.
"It's a good day for the team and for Alvaro," he said of Morata. "It's always important for the striker to score but for me, it's very important for me to see he's improving and more involved in our idea of football. For me this is the most important thing. Then if he scores I'm very happy, and I'm pleased for the player.
"N'Golo played an amazing game, but we are used to seeing this. He's a fantastic player. He makes good runs with quality, but he's also improving a lot his passes and his finishing. I think it's very important to see that this player is improving his weaknesses step by step. N'Golo is a really top player.
"I think to win three in a row is important for the players, because we are doing very well. In England it is not easy to win, especially if you are the champions and you start in a bad way. I have great players, they are reliable and I trust them.
"The mentality was very strong, very positive and very good until the penalty because we were in total control of the game. We scored the first goal and conceded one counter attack. After the penalty they tried to put a bit of pressure on but we created many chances to improve our scoreline and we must be satisfied.
"Now we are trying to involve the new players with the old players from last season, this is a process. They need time, I know that in football there is not a lot of time, but we are working very hard."
Eden Hazard made his first Chelsea appearance of the season from the bench after sitting out the summer with a broken ankle, producing a lively 12-minute cameo, while Tiemoue Bakayoko started and looked in better physical condition than his debut against Tottenham at Wembley last month.
"This is good news for us," Conte added of Hazard's return. "For sure he needs time to be 100 per cent, but for us his recovery is very important. We know very well the importance of this player for us.
"Now we must have patience to wait, to give him the possibility to improve his form. But I'm pleased for him because after a bad injury, it's great to see him again with us.
"I think Baka is improving his physical condition. Also he's starting to understand and adapt himself in our style of football. For sure he has to improve with the ball, because without the ball he's very strong. I think in this game he helped us a lot, above all after the Leicester goal.
"But he's a young player and I think he's a good signing for us. He has a lot of space to improve, like N'Golo. Now he needs to improve with the ball. You can see N'Golo has improved a lot if you compare with two years ago. We want to work and improve also Baka."