Conte eager to recover after hic-cup
ANTONIO Conte wants his Chelsea side to start the season with victory over Arsenal in today’s Community Shield at Wembley.
Games against Arsenal in part shaped Chelsea’s Premier League title-winning season, when Conte revived the Blues from 10th the previous term.
Following last September’s 3-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium, the Italian switched to a 3-4-3 formation and the Blues won 13 successive Premier League games.
The Premier League win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in February then provided impetus for the title run-in.
But then Conte was denied the double in his first season as Blues boss when Arsenal won May’s FA Cup final 2-1.
Conte said: “It was a pity to lose the game, to lose the FA Cup final against Arsenal after a really great season for us.
“Now there is another game. We know very well Arsenal is a strong team.
“We’re waiting (for) a game very difficult for us and want to try to start the season with a win. The same (for) Arsenal. I want to see a good game, for the players, for the people.”
Conte plans to stick with the formation which served Chelsea so well last term.
“After a good season you have to keep the positive things and try to change the negative things,” he added.
“One positive thing was our formation, our system. Now we are trying to continue to work in this system to try to improve.
“Every system needs to improve season by season, year by year.”
Eden Hazard (broken ankle) and Tiemoue Bakayoko (knee) are Chelsea’s only injury absentees.
Victor Moses is available before his suspension in the Premier League opener with Burnley, but striker Costa remains in exile.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has seen his summer dominated by talk of Alexis Sanchez leaving the Gunners.
And ahead of today’s clash with Chelsea he insisted it is completely his decision not to sell the Chile international this summer – and risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time.
Wenger is expected to play hard-ball with Sanchez as he does not want to lose his talisman to Premier League rivals Manchester City.
In the past Wenger has been powerless to turn down City’s millions for the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure as Arsenal were paying off the building costs of the Emirates Stadium.
Now they have no such financial obligations – and Wenger would rather Sanchez walk away for free next year than sell him now. Diego Chelsea’s Antonio Conte shakes hands with Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger in Bejing last month
“Yes, the board supports me to make the decisions on a technical front,” Wenger replied when asked if he had 100 per cent backing from the board to decide who comes and goes.
“I can tell you is that he is focused, and my decision is clear: he will stay and he will respect that, simple as that.”
While Wenger prepares to lay down the law with Sanchez, he appears set to take a different approach with Jack Wilshere.
The 25-year-old has struggled with injuries and will miss the start of the season as he recovers from a leg fracture.
Like Sanchez, Wilshere has less than a year left on his cur- rent deal and Wenger admits he must have a difficult discussion with the player over where his future lies.
Asked whether he expects Wilshere to stay at Arsenal, Wenger said: “That decision is not completely made. I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well.”