Conte sorry over Bridge sending-off

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte apologised to referee Neil Swarbrick and fourth official Lee Mason after he was sent off during last night’s 1-0 win over Swansea.

Chelsea remain 11 points behind leaders Manchester City after labouring to victory against the Swans through a first league goal from Antonio Rudiger (pictured).

Conte was dismissed from the touchline moments before half-time after furiously protesting the award of a Swansea goal kick and questioning the visitors for time-wasting.

“It’s right to apologise for what happened,” Conte said. “I saw that Swansea were wasting time. I said this a few times to the fourth official.

“At the same time I didn’t see something change. I was frustrated for this situation. I tried to tell again, but then the referee took this decision.

“I apologise for this. I was frustrated. For sure I made a mistake. During the game I suffer. With my players I suffer. It’s a pity.”

Chelsea struggled to kill off their poor opponents, who did not have a shot until the 66th minute and did not have an effort on target at all. Conte, though, praised his side for their positional discipline.

He added: “My players never lost their balance, they played an intelligent game. We must be very good also to win this type of game.”

It was a fourth straight game when Swansea have failed to score. Swans boss Paul Clement said: “We’re not creating many chances and we’re not scoring many goals. We’ve scored seven goals in 14 games and that’s going to make things very tough.

“We did OK tonight. We did frustrate Chelsea the way we set up.

“Most disappointing for me was the nature of the goal. There were players that had their backs turned, they weren’t in the right position.

“We’re so desperate for points and on another night, with a little bit more quality in the final third, we might get something.”