Pedro was in discomfort after a collision with Nacho Monreal (Picture: Getty)

Antonio Conte insists he ‘hopes’ Pedro did not suffer a serious injury during the goalless draw with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Pedro was involved in a heavy challenge with Gunners defender Nacho Monreal in the first-half of the match and was taken off at the interval.

Conte says the Spain international complained of discomfort in his ankle after the collision which is why he decided to replace him with Tiemoue Bakayoko.

‘Pedro took a bad tackle in his ankle,’ Conte said after watching his side fail to score at home in a league match for the first time under his management.

(Picture: Getty)
(Picture: Getty)

‘He wasn’t 100 per cent fit [after that] so I decided to make a substitution for the second half.

‘I hope this problem is not serious – we lost Pedro against Arsenal [in the Community Shield final].’

Conte also refused to get drawn into whether he thought David Luiz deserved to be sent off for a late tackle on Sead Kolasinac.

‘David Luiz, you know very well that I don’t like to comment about the referee,’ said Conte. ‘I don’t do it in the past, or the present. You need to see what happened before the tackle.

(Picture: Getty)

‘We have great respect for officials, but it is strange to finish a third game in a row against Arsenal with 10 men.’

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, was pleased with his team’s response to the 4-0 hammering they suffered against Liverpool two weeks ago.

‘It was about mentality and a response from our last away game. We could have won it. It was an intense game,’ the Frenchman said.

‘The battle was total. We are not in a transfer period and on the day we played Liverpool that affected us. We are all human beings.

(Picture: Getty)

‘If you play 55 games a season you can have a bad performance.

‘But we were focused and determined. We tried to play when we had the ball and we were close to winning the game. With a bit more freedom we would have won the game.’

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