Chelsea prepared for Lukaku threat – Conte

Antonio Conte says he is well aware of the threat Romelu Lukaku will pose to Chelsea when the Everton striker faces his former club on Sunday.

Lukaku, who has been linked with a return to Stamford Bridge, has scored 25 goals this season.

He will come up against a Chelsea side that leads the Premier League table but has shown some of vulnerability at the back.

“Lukaku for sure is a really good player and is scoring a lot of goals. We must pay great attention,” said Blues boss Conte.

“As always, we study the opposition to try to find the best solution to stop them – single players and the team.

“For sure we must pay great attention to Lukaku and the other players they have, because they have a lot of good players.”

Chelsea, four points clear of second-placed Tottenham, are strong favourites to win at Goodison Park but Conte is keen for them to tighten up at the back after failing to keep a clean sheet in their last 11 matches.

He said: “I don’t like the stat. It’s important to know I don’t like stats because sometimes they are not true – for example you can have a lot of possession and you can lose the game, so it’s not so important.

“Stats about clean sheets are important. It’s 11 games not able to keep a clean sheet and we need to improve and work at this situation.

“I am not concerned about this, but at the same time we are working.”