CONTE INSISTS CHELSEA WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE END

ANTONIO CONTE promised Chelsea will battle ‘until the end’ after watching his side move within a point of second-placed Manchester United with a straightforward 2-0 win over Brighton at Stamford Bridge. Alvaro Morata grabbed his tenth league goal with a header at the start of the second half before Marcos Alonso doubled their lead on the hour mark to leave Chelsea 13 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City, who travel to Newcastle this evening. And while Conte admits retaining the title looks unlikely, he believes Chelsea can still end the season on a high. ‘There is great motivation to fight until the end,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if we can do this for the title as it depends on City, who are having a fantastic run. ‘With the other top teams, we stay there to fight. There is great motivation for us and other teams to get a place in the Champions League next season.’ Conte also admitted his interest in Bayern Munich’s £50million-rated midfielder Arturo Vidal, who played under the Italian at Juventus. ‘I don’t like to speak about other players but Arturo is a fantastic player. If we go to war, I’d always want him with me.’ Elsewhere, Watford ended a four-game losing run by coming from behind to beat Leicester 2-1 at Vicarage Road. After Riyad Mahrez put the Foxes in front, an effort from Molla Wague and a Kasper Schmeichel own goal turned the game on its head. Watford boss Marco Silva praised his players, saying: ‘The last results made our players a little bit uncomfortable but I think we showed a very strong mentality.’ Huddersfield were held 1-1 at home by Stoke, who levelled through Ramadan Sobhi after Tom Ince’s opener. However, both sides had strong spot-kick appeals waved away, with Stoke boss Mark Hughes saying: ‘We feel a little bit aggrieved because it was a clear penalty on Mame Diouf. ‘Whether or not the ref was influenced because the home crowd seemed to think it was a foul by Joe Allen on Aaron Mooy (inside the box)... Joe’s just shepherded the ball away from danger.’ In the day’s other top-flight fixture, West Brom and Everton fought out a dour goalless draw at The Hawthorns.