Paul Wilson braved the rain and cold at the John Smith’s Stadium for the Guardian and here is the on-the-whistle report he typed with his frozen fingers.

Huddersfield stay mid-table: Defeat for Huddersfield leaves them in 12th place, a highly respectable position but just five points off the drop.

Goals from Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willian and Pedro mean that Chelsea stay in third place in the table, 11 points behind Manchester City, having played one game more. Burnley’s late smash-and-grab against Stoke means they’re fourth and here’s the proof.

Peep! Peep! Peeeeep! Huddersfield bag themselves a late consolation, but it’s far too little too late on a night they were dominated from start to finish by a Chelsea team that had the game won by half-time. Meanwhile it’s all happening at Selhurst Park, where James McArthur has made it Crystal Palace 2-1 Watford in the knockings of that game.

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The substitute scores: Laurent Delpoitre gets above Antonio Rudiger to get on the end of a cross from the left and power a splendid header past Thibaut Courtois.

90 min: An Ethan Ampadu clearance drops for Danny Williams on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area and he tries his luck. His low drive is fizzing well wide, but takes a deflection off Delpoitre and fizzes mere inches wide of the upright. Meanwhile at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace have equalised in the last minute to make it 1-1 in their match against Watford.

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89 min: Michy Batshuayi goes close to forcing the ball home from a ridiculously tight angle, but is penalised for a hand-ball in the build-up.

86 min: Laurent Delpoitre goes in with a high boot that looks like it might decapitate Tiemoue Bakayoko, but thinks better of it at the last second and avoids what could have been a nasty challenge and a red card.

83 min: The two teams at the John Smith’s Stadium seem to have reached something of a tacit agreement: Chelsea taking their foot off the gas as long as Huddersfield don’t annoy them by trying too hard to score. We’ve had some good goals and some scintillating link-up play from Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro ... but otherwise it’s been a game to forget. Hats off to Huddersfield’s supporters, who have been almost relentless in their support for their team tonight.

81 min: Burnley have beaten Stoke City 1-0 at Turf Moor and go fourth in the table in the Premier League in mid-December. Hat’s off to them.

78 min: Chelsea substitution: Andreas Christensen off, dread-headed 17-year-old Welsh international Ethan Ampadu on for his Premier League debut.

76 min: Ashley Barnes has put Burnley 1-0 up against Stoke in the 89th minute of their match. If Burnley hold on for the win, they’ll go fourth in the table for 24 hours at least. At Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace are a goal down against Watford. Daryl Janmaat with the goal there after three minutes. There’s 18 minutes to go in that one.

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75 min: Meanwhile at Turf Moor (potential spoiler alert) ...

74 min: Huddersfield substitution: Laurent Depoitre on for Steve Mounie, who’s put in a shift but seen little or nothing of the ball.

72 min: Huddersfield get forward again, but their final ball lets them down again and what passes for their attack breaks down. They’ve been very, very poor tonight after a decent opening 20 minutes.

70 min: Chelsea substitution: Danny Drinkwater on, N’Golo Kante off and after all his exertions will probably drink water.

68 min: Chelsea substitution: Eden Hazard jogs off after another fine performance and is replaced by Michy Batshuayi.

68 min: Pedro has two chances in quick succession. He blazes the first over the bar from the edge of the Huddersfield penalty area. Moments later, he’s teed up with an exquisite back-heel from Eden Hazard but drags his effort from 14 yards wide.

67 min: Huddersfield substitution: Florent Hadergjonaj on for Chris Lowe, who’s had a torrid time of it trying to keep tabs on Victor Moses.

66 min: It’s been an eventful couple of minutes for Thibaut Courtois, who had so little to do in the first half, that he spent the interval out on the pitch warming up with Chelsea’s goalkeeping coach.

65 min: More signs of life from Huddersfield, as Zanka (Matthias Jorgensen to his mum) tries his luck from distance. His drive from 30 yards fizzes just over Thibaut Courtois’s cross-bar.

62 min: Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has his first bit of meaningful action, staying on his feet and blocking the ball as Thomas Ince slaloms through the Huddersfield penalty area and tries to lift it over him.

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60 min: Eden Hazard gets past two defenders and brings a smart save out of Lossl with a shot from a very tight angle.

59 min: Pedro and Willian combine with a series of intricate passes to send Victor Moses on his way. The birthday boy shoots from a narrow angle when perhaps he should have squared the ball, but the ball takes a nick off a defender on its way wide and Chelsea have a corner.

58 min: Chelsea continue to dominate, without doing much with the ball. They’ve a three-goal cushion, so sterile possession will suit them just fine.

55 min: Victor Moses is penalised for offside as he tries to chase a pass down the right flank.

52 min: This could get very messy indeed for Huddersfield who are giving Chelsea’s players far too much time on the ball. Once again, Alonso got on the ball on the left touchline and had as long as he needed to whip a cross into the box. With his back to Christopher Schindler, Willian was allowed to win it and tee up Pedro, who rifled the ball into the corner.

Pedro gets on the scoresheet: Alonso gets a cross into the box this time, Willian lays it off for Pedro and the Spaniard whips it into the top right-hand corner.

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49 min: Alonso gets on the ball twice in quick succession on the left touchline, but is unable to get a cross in either time.

48 min: Steve Mounie is cutting a very isolated figure up front for Huddersfield and has barely had a touch of the ball. He hustles and harries various Chelsea defenders in quick succession as they pass the ball out from the back, no doubt knackering himself out in the process.

46 min: Huddersfield get the ball rolling for the second half, with 35-year-old central midfielder Dean Whitehead on for Jonathan Hogg. It’s a like for like substitution.

“I’d just like as a Chelsea fan to send a message to some of our away fans tonight,” he writes. “Please don’t sing ‘Champions of England, you’ll never sing that’ to a team which dominated English football and won several English league titles under Herbert Chapman 90 years ago. That just fuels fire to our rivals which say ‘You’ve got no History’. We’re proud of ours in the late 60s and early 70s, let’s respect our opponents as well please.” That’s them told, Terry.

Chelsea in complete control: Andre Marriner blows for the interval and the players march off for their half-time brew with Chelsea’s totally dominant. Tiemoue Bakayoko and Willian got the goals, which were the only moments of qwuality in a fairly boring 45 minutes of football in which Chelsea enjoyed more than 66% of the possession and had seven shots to Huddersfield’s one.

45 min: Chelsea also make it 3-0 before the break, but Lossl saves well with his left hand from Pedro, who was unmarked in space on the left side of the penalty area when Eden Hazard picked him out.

44 min: Chelsea switch the play from the right flank to the left, where Alonso takes possession on the touchline. He sends in a cross towards the far post, where the unmarked Willian scores with a firm downwards header.

Willian heads home to double Chelsea’s lead.

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42 min: A replay suggests that Bakayoko’s goal may actually go down as a Chris Lowe own goal. Bakayoko flicked the ball over Lossl and it looked to be spinning wide of the far post until Lowe bundled it over the line.