CONTE HOPEFUL OVER INJURY

CHELSEA manager Antonio Conte expressed optimism about the extent of the injury that curtailed striker Alvaro Morata’s involvement in yesterday’s 1-0 loss at home to Manchester City. Morata was substituted in the 35th minute of the game at Stamford Bridge and appeared to gesture to his left hamstring as he left the pitch. “It’s a muscular problem. I don’t think it’s a serious problem,” Conte told his post-match press conference. “Because it stopped before becoming a serious injury. He said to me: ‘Coach, I prefer to stop myself otherwise I risk a bad injury.’ “The doctor in the next days has to check the situation. I don’t think he’s available for the national team.” Villarreal Deportivo Girona Las Palmas Eibar Alaves Malaga

(Hamsik 4, Mertens 40-pen, Koulibaly 47) (Paloschi 39) (Simy 59), (Falque 31, Niang (Kean 89, Pazzini 90+2-pen), (Castro 25, 46) (Simeone 6), (D’Alessandro 42) (Brozovic 19, 22), (Alberto 45+1, 57, de Vrij 56, Parolo 64, 69, Immobile 81-pen) (Berardi 27-pen), (De Paul 27-pen, Maxi Lopez 66-pen, 85, Fofana 90+5pen) (Palacio 73). 44)

Napoli Inter Juventus Lazio Roma Milan Torino Chievo Sampdoria Bologna Atalanta Fiorentina Udinese Cagliari SPAL Crotone Sassuolo Verona Genoa Benevento 6 7 7 6 6 7 7

7 7 6 7 5 6 7 7 6 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 21 21 13 20 20 10 01

60 61 60 51 40 40 33 32 32 32 22 21 20 20 12 12 11 03 02 00 3 4 3 4 4 6 6

L6 9 6 5 3 3 4 9 16 11 10 14 10 16

0 25 5 0 14 3 0 18 3 1 19 9 1 12 4 2 10 8 1 12 11 2 9 9 1 8 8 2 6 7 2 10 8 4 10 10 5 12 13 5 4 11 4 6 12 4 4 12 5 4 15 4 3 17 5 5 11 7 2 18 7 7 6 6 6 3 1

THEY can win without Vincent Kompany, as they have shown enough times this season. They can even win without Sergio Aguero, as they showed again yesterday. But where on earth would Manchester City be without Kevin De Bruyne, their best and most important player?

Certainly they would not be winning games like this, away at the in-form champions, at the end of a week when they lost two first-teamers to injury.

It was the second time this week, in fact, that De Bruyne had given City the lead, out of the blue, all by himself, just when his teammates were short of ideas. On Tuesday, in a game that did not exactly dominate the week’s news, he fired City ahead right-footed from 20 yards out against Shakhtar Donetsk, after a first half in which they had looked unusually limited.

But this was better: a bigger game, against a harder team, with more riding on it and less time left. There were 23 minutes left here at Stamford Bridge and thoughts were turning to the benches. City had been the better side but they had not turned their possession into a goal. They had been flashing low crosses into the box but they are built for Aguero’s near-post darts. Gabriel Jesus does not have quite the same knack.

These are the moments, ultimately, when the biggest and best players bend things their way.

And there is no bigger, better player in the country right now than De Bruyne. He took a forward pass from Nicolas Otamendi in the middle of the pitch and with his first touch laid it forward to Gabriel. Bursting forward, he took the return, teed himself up with his first touch and then with his second he beat Thibaut Courtois from 25 yards. It was with his left foot, his weaker foot, not even the one he scored with on Tuesday.

When De Bruyne does that, there is something reminiscent of Steven Gerrard about how he plays:

21 19 18 16 12 12 12 11 11 11 8 7 6 6 5 5 4 3 2 0

(Niederlechner 15, Soyuncu 18, Strenzel 87) (Hack 14, Schuster 90+2-og), (Duda 51, Kalou 56) (Hummels 10, Lewandowski 49), (Ginter 67, Hazard 90+4-pen) (Harnik 71), (Rebic 42, Haller 90+3) (Terodde 61), (Caiuby 11) (Yarmolenko 4, Kagawa 23), (Guilavogui 55) (Muto 74), Dortmund Bayern Hoffenheim Hanover Augsburg M’gladbach Leipzig Frankfurt Schalke Berlin Leverkusen Wolfsburg Freiburg Mainz Stuttgart Hamburg Bremen Cologne

Sheffield Wednesday 3 Leeds United 0, Aston Villa 1 Bolton 0, Burton 0 Wolves 4, Cardiff 0 Derby 0, Hull 6 Birmingham 1, Ipswich 1 Bristol City 3, Middlesbrough 2 Brentford 2, Millwall 1 Barnsley 3, Nottingham Forest 2 Sheffield United 1, Preston 2 Sunderland 2, Reading 1 Norwich 2.

Cardiff Wolves Sheff Utd Leeds Bristol Preston Villa Ipswich Norwich Fulham

(Pele 41, Khaoui 57) (Hernani 53), (Neymar 5, 40-pen, Cavani 12, Meunier 21, Draxler 45, Mbappe 58) (Sankhare 31, Malcom 90-pen), (Kwon 78) (Terrier 90+2), (Thuram (Somalia 40), (Sala 3) (Bensebaini 35- 1) og). 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 61 42 42 33 32 32 31 31 31 23 22 14 14 21 21 21 04 01

11 7 3 11 7 2 11 7 0 11 6 2 11 5 5 11 5 5 11 5 4 10 6 0 11 5 3 11 4 5

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1 17 9 24 2 19 11 23 4 15 10 21 3 18 11 20 1 20 11 20 1 13 6 20 2 17 10 19 4 20 16 18 3 11 13 18 2 14 10 17

Aberdeen 3 St Johnstone 0, Celtic 2 Hibernian 2, Dundee 2 Hearts 1, Kilmarnock 0 Ross County 2, Motherwell 3 Partick 0.