Thank goodness the Blues were not relying on points from Monday night’s game at West Brom to clinch the title.

Winning the Premier League with matches to spare meant Izzy Brown, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathan Ake were all given an outing.

But a 3-0 defeat was not anticipated.

“The context is we are champions, and the players lose concentration, they lose intensity, they lose motivation,” said Jose Mourinho.

“You can’t expect us to get on the bus crying because we lost 3-0, we are champions.”

He showered more praise on the apple of his eye, Loftus-Cheek, one of the few Blues players to emerge with much credit at the Hawthorns.

And it could have been worse. Captain John Terry dodged any sanction whatsoever for giving away a penalty (and West Brom’s second goal)… so he’ll still be able to lead Chelsea out for the final game on Sunday at Stamford Bridge against Sunderland, becoming only the second outfield player ever to play throughout a Premier League season since United’s Gary Pallister in the early 90s.

Despite the result, Chelsea’s travelling army kept up an almost constant ironic droning chant of “We’ve won the league”.

They genuinely don’t care about losing to West Brom – they’re in the middle of a rolling summer-long party, and even rogue away defeats can’t wipe the silly grins from their faces.

At the end of the game, Mourinho walked over to salute the patient fans.

Sunday’s knees-up will be the icing on the cake, and Jose wants a win using a full-strength first team, with the notable exception of Cesc Fabregas, sent off for booting the ball at Chris Brunt on Monday night.

Either Mikel or Loftus-Cheek will deputise.

Then there’s the bank holiday parade to look forward to, with the streets brought to a halt around Stamford Bridge.

That tees up another party – on the plane to Thailand and Australia as the team have a post- season outing.