‘CLARETS BOSS HAS IT EASIER’

ANTONIO CONTE has refused to jump on the bandwagon and join the Burnley backslapping.

The Chelsea chief (above) admitted his Clarets counterpart Sean Dyche has done a “great job” to lead them to the brink of European football. But he reckons Dyche has it easy compared to the bosses of the big clubs, with huge expectations to match their budgets.

The Italian said: “He is doing an important job. A great job this season. But if you start the season fighting to avoid the relegation zone, it is more simple.

“It is more simple because you have to avoid the last three places at the bottom and then you can stay between 10 teams. “And then, if you have a good base and in the previous season you played very well, you can count on this basis.

“But it is more difficult when you have to prepare the transfer market to win something because only one team wins and, if the other doesn’t win, you are the first to speak about a failed season.

“If you don’t win the FA Cup, the league title, or the League Cup, it is a failure and, for this reason, it is more difficult to play for this target.”

Fifth-placed Chelsea travel to Burnley tonight with their top-four hopes still alive. They hit back to win 3-2 at Southampton at the weekend after being 2-0 down.

Conte added: “Every player played badly for 60 minutes. We have to avoid this if we want to keep the hope of a top-four finish.”