Cristian Chivu insisted that his Inter side still have work to do if they are to lift the Serie A title this season despite their thumping 5-0 win over 10-man Sassuolo on Sunday. 

Chivu watched on as goals from Yann Bisseck and Marcus Thuram had Inter two goals in front at the break before they assumed control of proceedings in the second half. 

Inter skipper Lautaro Martinez put the result beyond doubt before Manuel Akanji struck three minutes later, with Sassuolo's misery compounded when Nemanja Matic was sent off. 

Luis Henrique added further gloss to the scoreline late on as the Nerazzurri cruised to their eighth straight away league win, doing so for only the third time in their entire history. 

It was a result that moved them eight points clear of rivals AC Milan at the top of the table, with Chivu's men now assigned an 84.7% chance of lifting the title by the Opta supercomputer, but the Inter boss was not getting too far ahead of himself. 

"Zero for me," Chivu told DAZN when asked what Inter's chances were of winning the Scudetto. "There are fourteen games left to play. There's still work to be done. 

"We understood the moment that we were in, we suffered from their intensity and once they got hold of the ball, they went straight at the game.

"We struck at the right time with that corner, then our solidity became an important factor for how we went about the game. 

"This team seems more mature now, of how to accept and adapt in certain moments of the game."

Inter have now won 13 games this season with a clean sheet, at least two more than any other team across Europe's top five leagues (Arsenal are second with 11). 

But their quality has not just been in defence, though it was a full-back in Federico Dimarco who starred in attack with three assists at MAPEI Stadium.

Indeed, Dimarco has now provided 11 assists this season. Only Massimo Oddo (13 in 2005-06) has provided more assists among defenders in a single Serie A season since that data was available (2004-05). 

And with his goal, Martinez equalled Roberto Boninsegna's tally of 171 goals among Inter's all-time top scorers, with only Giuseppe Meazza (284) and Alessandro Altobelli (209) ahead of the duo. 

But Chivu was keen to stay away from individual achievements and focus on Inter's performance as a team, suggesting there was room for improvement across all areas. 

"We can't forget where we've come from. We can't be afraid of anything, but we have to be aware that we can still improve," Chivu added. 

"There's no such thing as perfection. It isn't easy because there's still a long way to go in the league and these are important phases of the season.

"We're halfway through the marathon, we have to keep our maturity and be competitive."