A QUICK FIX
PROBABLE TEAMS TODAY, SKY SPORTS, KO 4 Pep is having tons of fun.. as Bridge squabbles go on
ANTONIO CONTE expects to welcome Pep Guardiola into the 100 Club this season. Guardiola’s City have already amassed 75 points in an incredible campaign with a further 30 still on offer. Conte’s Chelsea side will hope the maximum they can reach is 102 after their own trip to the Etihad today. But once that is over the Italian sees no reason why Guardiola won’t join him, Jose Mourinho and Tito Vilanova as the only managers to have reached the ton milestone in Europe’s top leagues. Mourinho did it with Real Madrid in the 2011-12 campaign — they were crowned champions with 100 points. And Vilanova, who replaced Guardiola at Barcelona, matched that tally a year later. Conte joined them at the end of the 2013-14 season with Juventus amassing 102 points. The closest Guardiola has come to the three-figure mark was in 2009-10, his second season in charge of Barca, when the La Liga winners fell just one point short on 99. Conte said: “If Manchester City continue with this fire, with this hunger, for sure they can achieve 100 points. “They are in fantastic physical condition, playing good football and have great desire. “A good win against Arsenal in the league, after winning the Carabao Cup, shows you have a group of players with great determination. “It won’t be easy to reach 100 points. But they have the possibility because they are showing themselves to be the best in this league.”
Conte could be forgiven for envying what Guardiola has at City — a board which backs him to the hilt and buys the players, in stark contrast to his own situation at Chelsea.
But the Blues boss added: “I don’t like people to envy another person, I don’t like the person who has this type of sentiment.
“I have great admiration because they found the right way to be strong for a long time, to have successful seasons for a long time.
“They have a great coach, great players. And then there is the possibility to spend a lot of money and have the same ambition of the coach.
“This is the fantastic result for Manchester City. They are not the only club to spend a lot of money but the way they are spending money, especially the way the club is making Pep happy during the transfer market…” That is complete contrast to Conte, who dropped a clear hint that he won’t be at Chelsea next season by admitting he and the club have made no pre-season plans together. That includes transfer targets.
Conte said: “The club, I think, has the same ambition in this moment — to be focused on the present and not to look too far.
“The present is very important for us, to try to do our best, and then we’ll prepare the new season.”
Today’s game completes a hat-trick of tough fixtures for Chelsea with a 1-1 draw with Barca in the Champions League last 16 and 2-1 defeat by Manchester United in the Premier League preceding it.
Conte added: “We played two good games. The result against United was unfair, we deserved more.
“Against Barcelona we had a good performance. We’ll try to do the same against City.”
It won’t be easy to reach 100 points... but it’s possible for City