CONTE TOP-4 FEAR

FROM BACK PAGE risk of missing out on the Champions League. We must be ready to fight. It is such an important target for us... but it won’t be easy.”

Chelsea looked to have the game in the bag after Willian put them ahead at Old Trafford but finished empty-handed and are now two points off the Champions League places.

“We had every chance to get three points but again we are talking about another defeat,” a frustrated Conte said.

“We must be disappointed because when you are ahead like we were you have to manage the game better.”

The Londoners were by far the better side in the first half but conceded a soft goal to Romelu Lukaku before the break and then an even poorer one when United sub Jesse Lingard was left unmarked to head home the winner.

Conte took off his best player Eden Hazard after 72 minutes, four minutes before Lingard struck, but insisted it was the right call because the Belgian had stopped working off the ball. “You have to keep the same performance for 90 minutes, otherwise you don’t have a great balance.

“Every single player has to try and work without the ball,” he said. “I think he (Hazard) had used up all his energy because in the first half he ran a lot. When I see a player is a bit tired my task is to find a solution. Pedro came in.”