Antonio Conte defended Alvaro Morata after the striker failed to take two excellent chances during Chelsea’s thrashing of Stoke.
The Blues cruised to 5-0 victory at Stamford Bridge and had enough chances to win by an even greater margin.
Two of those opportunities fell to Morata, who was unable to find the net despite coming up against a demoralised Stoke defence.
Morata twice shot straight at keeper Jack Butland after being put through on goal, but Blues boss Conte insisted he was pleased with the Spaniard’s work up front.
Conte said: “It was a pity because for a striker it is always very important to score.
“But usually I am more worried when our striker doesn’t have the opportunities to score. In this case I think Alvaro was very good to stay in the right place.
“For me it’s very important to see my players have chances to score.”
Chelsea were two up within nine minutes courtesy of Antonio Rudiger’s header and Danny Drinkwater’s first goal for the club.
Pedro, Willian and substitute Davide Zappacosta also netted as Conte’s side dominated in the absence of the rested Eden Hazard.
“Our performance was very positive. We started very well and we wanted this,” Conte explained.
“We started the game with great desire to score early, because in this type of game if you are able to score early the game can become easy because the opponent has to change their plan and give more space.
“Today I had a good response from all my players. I made rotations and I think when you have this type of response from your players you must be pleased and know that you are working very well.”
This post was last modified on 31/12/2017