Antonio Conte has warned both Manchester United and neighbours City that Chelsea will fight to the wire to defend their Premier League title this season.
The Manchester clubs are setting the early pace in the top flight with indentical records, and are the only teams in the league yet to suffer defeat.
But Chelsea are just three points back and Conte insists there are still six teams in the race for the Premier League crown. The Italian's squad has been hit by injuries and suspensions in recent weeks, but he has challenged the squad to keep the heat on the pace-setters.
Conte was reluctant to read too much into the Premier League table so early in the campaign, but dismissed any suggestion the Premier League is shaping up as a two-horse race.
He said: “You know very well that, in England, there are six top teams.” he said. “Manchester’s teams are in these six teams. It’s normal.
“It’s normal for United and City to be competitive and to fight for the title and the other competitions. It’s normal. My idea of football is to be a team, and then the team try to extract the characteristics of the individual players.
“Now we are recovering Hazard after a bad injury, and recovering Pedro after a bad start to the season with injuries. We’re trying to face difficult situations, bad situations — Cahill three games of suspension, and now David Luiz...
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“When you are a team, you can face this type of situation in the right way. I’m sure about this. But now it’s not important. We have to stay there and try and do our best. At the end of the season, we’ll see what happens.”
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