Courtois backing his boss

® THIBAUT COURTOIS says Chelsea’s players are right behind boss Antonio Conte.

Reports emerged about discontent over the Italian’s methods. But the Belgium keeper said the way the champions fought back from 2-1 down to beat Watford 4-2 on Saturday proves the players back the boss.

Chelsea had lost their previous two league games and drawn 3-3 with Roma in the Champions League.

Courtois said: “When a top team has a few bad results, the first thing they try to say is that the players are not happy and we’re not behind the coach.

“But against Watford you saw we fought for every moment and we fought when we were down, so everybody can see we’re behind the coach.

“Those rumours are easy to spread but I don’t think they are true. If somebody is unhappy, instead of going to the press I think they would say it internally, so it’s not true.

“First of all, it’s the players that have to do it on the pitch so it was important to win, to fight.

“At the moment it’s more running, fighting and battling for every ball than maybe the best football.”

Chelsea tonight host Everton, who sacked boss Ronald Koeman on Monday, in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Courtois added: “With any cup you want to win it. With injuries, maybe we don’t have the possibility to rotate a lot, so we will have to see what team the manager puts out, but I don’t think it’s a moment to relax.”