Sunday 19 November 2017 09:47, UK
Antonio Conte is glad Chelsea have found their stability after beating West Brom 4-0 but is not sure Manchester City can be caught.
First-half goals from Alvaro Morata, Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso ensured a comfortable victory at the Hawthorns before Hazard added a second after the break.
Conte liked what he saw from his team as they built on their win over Manchester United prior to the international break to make it four Premier League wins on the bounce.
"We must be pleased because the performance was positive, it was very good," he told Sky Sports. "From the start of the game we showed great focus and great concentration.
"Do not forget that [although] this game became easy, last season we struggled a lot in both games against West Bromwich.
"I have watched a lot of games of West Bromwich this season and I think they deserved more points, but today I think we outplayed West Bromwich."
Morata and Hazard assisted each other for the first two goals and are forming an impressive partnership since Conte switched to a 3-5-2 formation with the Belgian in a more central role.
The Chelsea boss insisted it was a team effort but was pleased by their blossoming understanding.
"I would like to speak about the performance of the whole team because today we showed great compactness and great focus," he added.
"But for sure, there is a good link with the two strikers, Morata and Hazard. I hope they continue in this way.
"If you want to do something important, it is very important to find stability and find the right balance.
"In the first part of the season, for many reasons, we did not have this type of stability. I am trying to change something in our formation.
"We are recovering our players. There is only [Victor] Moses but he is very close. I think that now we have more players available we have to fight to try to win every game."
The three points took Chelsea above Tottenham but they remain nine adrift of leaders Manchester City and Conte does not appear too optimistic about catching Pep Guardiola's team.
"I must be honest, Manchester City now is playing very well and it is very difficult to think that you can catch up with them," he said. "They win every game and they have drawn one game.
"On this run, it is very difficult to think something positive, you know? But we have to look to ourselves and to play like we did today."
