Chelsea boss Antonio Conte defended his side’s form and said the impressive victory at Huddersfield was exactly the confidence-boosting response they needed after losing to West Ham.
Goals from Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willian and Pedro earned a 3-1 away win which takes the Blues level on points with second-placed Manchester United in the Premier League table.
But if Manchester City win their game in hand against Swansea City on Wednesday, Chelsea will once again be 14 points adrift of the leaders.
“Don’t forget in the past nine games we drew only one game against Liverpool away and lost the last one but we won seven,” Conte said.
“We are having a good path in the league. Manchester City is a team that in this moment that is very difficult to stop. Otherwise we will stay with United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal to fight for the title.”
The Italian added: “We must be very happy for the performance because from the start of the game we showed great personality, a great desire to win against a really good team.
“Don’t forget Huddersfield won against Manchester United, and Manchester City struggled to win.
“To win this way is very important because it improves our confidence – especially after defeat against West Ham
“We have to continue in this way because my players enjoyed this type of football, to dominate the game and to create chances with great combination play between my strikers.
“I saw a lot of positive things and only one negative thing – to concede a goal at the end of the game.”
This post was last modified on 15/12/2017