Angry Conte admits top four finish is revised target

Antonio Conte admits Chelsea are battling to secure their Champions League future and warned ofa“badsurprise”ifhisside do not raise their game.

A 1-0 loss at West Ham on Saturday and Manchester City’s win at Old Trafford on Sunday saw Chelsea slip 14 points behind Pep Guardiola’s leaders.

After a fourth loss in 16 games, Conte thinks a title challenge is now all but over and spoke of a revised target ahead of this evening’s Premier League clash at Huddersfield.

“I’m not happy because the last game we lost against West Ham,” Conte said. “In 16 games we lost four games. My experience tells me it’s impossible to win the title.

“Now we must be focused in the league to go game by game, to do our best. This league is not simple. We have to fight to find a place in the Champions League.

“We have to play every game with 120 per cent of our strength, otherwise we risk to have a bad surprise at the end of the season.”

Conte could rest midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko and striker Alvaro Morata for the trip to Huddersfield, who are 11th in the table and looking for a repeat of October’s unlikely win over Manchester United.

Stoke City players travel to high-flying Burnley tonight knowing they need to get the club’s supporters back on side following Saturday’s rout by Tottenham.

The Stoke squad were confronted by angry fans at a train station after the 5-1 defeat but Potters boss Mark Hughes said: “That could possibly be a good thing. Sometimes we’re accused as managers, coaches, players, of being in our own little bubble and sometimes you have to be exposed to the genuine feeling of the fans.”

In tonight’s other fixture, bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace host Watford. Last night Palace boss Roy Hodgson revealed that striker Christian Benteke hasapologisedtothesquad for missing a late penalty against Bournemouth on Saturday – a penalty he shouldn’t have taken because Luka Milivojevic was the nominated taker.