Conte was lonely despite success
Clement hopes for a fight on home front Ice Berg wants to sink England again
The Chelsea manager found life away from wife Elisabetta and daughter Vittoria tough and that made it far from easy to settle.
But now that the pair have joined him in a house near the club’s training ground in Cobham, life is rosy again.
“It was difficult for sure,” he said. “For me to have my family with me is very important.
“Last season, honestly, I suffered a lot because when you arrive in a new country and you are alone, and know that your family don’t stay here, it is not simple.
“This season I’m very happy because they are with me, my daughter and wife and for us it is a fantastic experience.
“I think that this experience for my daughter is an incredible experience and a great gift that I’m giving her.
“Last season was very difficult for my wife because she divided her life between Italy, to stay with our daughter there, and me in London.
“But now it’s great for me and my family and above all for my daughter – it is a fantastic experience for her, and also for my wife, to live in a new country and learn a new language.”
Conte has issued a passionate retort to reports linking him with the AC Milan job because he is “homesick”.
“I did an interview two weeks ago and the translation was wrong,” he said.
“All I said was that one day in the future I would like to go back to Italy.
“But you know my position. I have a two-year contract with Chelsea and I’m happy to work for this club and with my players. I like to have this great feeling with our fans.
“Every coach, when they start, they work with the club and hope they will stay for a long time and build something important.
“At the same time, I always say our job is difficult and is strange.”
Conte takes Chelsea to Crystal Palace today pondering who to pick in midfield, what with N’Golo Kante (hamstring) and Danny Drinkwater (calf) set to miss the next few weeks.
“Kante is going to have a scan next week to check if his hamstring problem is improving. From the previous scan, maybe he’ll be out for about 20 days,” PAUL CLEMENT has issued Swansea with a battle cry as he bids to reverse his team’s awful home form, having lost all three of their games.
Clement, above, said: “We have been missing an attitude where we are fighting for our lives in every game. We need to create that mentality again and play more like we did in the second half against Watford, but from the first whistle.
“We don’t want to sit off and let Huddersfield dictate. That battle will said Conte. “In this situation you have to pay great attention and for this reason we are going to do another scan after one week to understand the situation very well.
“Maybe this scan will be better than the one before.
“It’s a problem and a big loss for us because we know very well the importance of Kante to our team and we don’t have another player with the same characteristic.
“Yes, Drinkwater is progressing well but he is not ready yet. We HAMSTRUNG: Kante was injured playing for France last week be there early on and we have to be ready. We’ve to show at home we’re not a shrinking violet.”
Huddersfield defender Mathias Jorgensen, meanwhile, is aiming to use his club form to force his way into Denmark’s World Cup starting line-up – so long as he does not suffer Irish agony. The must have patience calf problem. “We have seven games in one month and need to find a different solution by adapting defenders into midfielders or by giving opportunities to young players to play from the start.” But Conte was able to deliver a more promising bulletin on Alvaro Morata. The striker missed out on international duty with Spain because of a hamstring injury he sustained last month playing against Manchester City but he is expected to return for Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday. “I hope to have Morata back soon,” said Conte. “I hope for the next game against Roma.” centre-back, who likes to be known as ‘Zanka’, is eagerly awaiting the World Cup play-off draw on Tuesday. The seeded Danes could face, among others, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.
Zanka thinks either team could draw them into an exhausting two-leg encounter. He said: “Our coach would not mind playing either of the Irish teams. But it would be a very physical, tight game against either of those teams.” with his BURNLEY’S Johann Berg Gudmundsson says Iceland would jump at playing England at next year’s World Cup.
The midfielder was in the Iceland team who dumped England out of Euro 2016.
Iceland booked their place at Russia 2018 as Gudmundsson scored in the 3-0 victory in Turkey last week and again in the 2-0 win over Kosovo on Monday.
Thus Iceland, with a population of 335,000, became the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup.
Gudmundsson, above, will be watching the draw on December 1.
“Hopefully we’ll get England,” he said. “We could beat them again.
“The pressure on England is much more. They should be doing a bit better. I’m not expecting – and hopefully you’re not – for England to win the World Cup. Maybe you are?”
Hammers manager Slaven Bilic uses a credit rating to pick his teams.
Bilic said: “Nothing gives you as much credit as the games.
“Games are where it counts. It’s like a credit card. If it’s flat, you can’t go shopping, can’t draw money out.
“Every training session gives you a little plus or minus. And the players know that.”