Conte could be sacked this week: Carragher

CHELSEA could sack Antonio Conte (pix) this week following yesterday’s 4-1 loss at Watford, claims Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.

Ten-man Chelsea suffered their second successive defeat in the Premier League following last Wednesday’s shock 3-0 loss at home to Bournemouth.

Chelsea’s next fixture is against bottom-of-the-table West Brom next Monday.

Carragher was asked by they’re not going to make the Champions League.

“I think they did it with (Andre) Villas-Boas, (Roberto) Di Matteo, I think with (Jose) Mourinho as well. I think actually they were even worse than that with Jose.

“Antonio Conte said before the game ‘I want the owner and the board to come out and back me’.

“Well that’s never going to happen because Roman Abramovich hasn’t come out and spoken about anything in 10, 15 years, whatever it is he’s been at the club.

“So that’s not going to happen and it’s certainly not going to happen on the back of yesterday’s result.”

Conte claimed at the beginning of this season he did not want a repeat of Mourinho’s final campaign in charge.

Mourinho won the League title in the 2014/15 season but was sacked the following December with the Blues languishing near the relegation zone.

Carragher believes the firsthalf performance at Watford was reminiscent of that season.

“Conte said at the start of the season he doesn’t want to have a Mourinho season,” he said.

“He’s getting a Mourinho performance from that season in that first half. That must be very, very worrying.

“If this continues like that, you can only think about what is said or spoken about after this game.”

Conte has maintained he is happy to see out his contract, which runs out in 2019, but many feel he will leave this summer. After a second half that got much worse, Carragher doubted he’ll see out the week. – Express Newspapers