Fab start has Conte spoilt for choice

LONDON: Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has played down talk of his team being favourites to win the Premier League title as premature and warned his players to stay focused when they host West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.

Chelsea are on a ninegame winning streak in the league and beat Manchester City 3-1 away last weekend, but Conte said he would only judge his team’s prospects later in the season.

“It’s difficult to accept this (being favourites) because I think we played only 14 games, we must finish the first part of the season and then we still have the second part,” the Italian told a news conference yesterday.

“We started as underdogs this season but it’s normal when you are playing good football and winning games. It’s important after this win we don’t lose our hunger.

“(Tomorrow) is the type of game we will find difficult if we don’t have the same focus as in previous matches. We’ve worked very well this week and I’m waiting on a good performance from my players.”

Midfielder Nemanja Matic is available after missing the trip to City and Conte is pleased with options after Cesc Fabregas impressed in a rare start.

“Cesc played a good game against City and took his opportunity,” Conte said.

“Now for the next game I have a choice of four midfielders - (N’golo) Kante, Matic, Fabregas and (Nathaniel) Chalobah – and I have to take the best decision for the team.

“It’s very important that we have good competition. If I have to put out the same line-up it’s not good.”

Brazilian midfielder Oscar has been ruled out of the game against seventh-placed West Brom due to illness and club captain John Terry is also unavailable.

Meanwhile, Liver pool were angered by their loss at Bournemouth last weekend and will be looking to make amends when struggling West Ham United visit Anfield, manager Juergen Klopp said yesterday.

Liverpool twice surrendered a two-goal advantage and conceded a stoppage-time goal to go down 4-3 at Bournemouth last Sunday.

“This game helped us to understand what’s wrong with our protection sometimes,” Klopp said.

“We played good enough to win the game until it slipped through our fingers. We were passive, which is not usual for us.

“At 3-1 up we played one bad pass and they scored. They used that situation. It was our fault. We were responsible for it.”

Klopp said he was surprised by West Ham’s lowly position of 17th in the table.

“We will be angry (tomorrow). But West Ham will be a tough challenger, an interesting game,” the German added.

“Nobody would have expected West Ham’s situation in the table. They have had injuries. They all come back to play.

“West Ham want the points and that makes me angry just thinking about it.”

Klopp confir med that Liverpool’s Cameroonian centre-back Joel Matip would not represent his country at the Africa Cup of Nations in January and ruled striker Daniel Sturridge out of the West Ham match.

Sturridge picked up a calf injury in training that kept him out of the trip to Bournemouth and Klopp said he had no idea when his injury-prone forward would return to training.

“Until now he hasn’t trained,” the manager said. “He’s not with the team. He’s not happy. That’s the life of afootballer. You can’t force these things.”

Southampton manager Claude Puel demands a positive reaction from his team in tomorrow’s home game against Middlesbrough after their Europa League exit.

The Saints needed a win or a goalless draw to progress but were dumped out after a 1-1 draw at home to Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Thursday, which sent the Israeli side into the round of 32 as Group K runners-up.

The French manager and his players have called for immediate domestic focus as they aim to scale the table from their current 12th place to set themselves up for an European quest next season.

“It’s an opportunity to play quickly. It’s a good thing to have this game and to have a good reaction,” Puel told the club website.

Defender Virgil van Dijk, who led Southampton in the Europa League, said they must also learn from Thursday’s game, in which he scored the equaliser.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game… Obviously, we couldn’t keep the clean sheet. We need to look at it and bounce back, which is going to be a massive game,” he said.

Maya Yoshida echoed his defensive partner’s thoughts and said league victories is the only way to move forward. “I don’t know what to say. We have a game at the weekend as well so we will have to keep our heads up and try to get three points in the Premier League,” the Japanese said. – Reuters