Antonio Conte has admitted that Chelsea must be “realistic” about their spot in the Premier League title race after Eden Hazard’s goal secured a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
“At this moment we must be realistic by going game by game,” Conte said when asked if Chelsea are aiming for a top-four finish rather than retaining their title.
“We have 19 points and we deserve to have 19 points. We are first in our group in the Champions League. We went into the next round of the Carabao Cup after going out in the second round last season.
“This group [of players]… I’m very happy for this group. There are players who are very honest, players who want to fight until the end for something important. Are we able to do this? I don’t know. But we will try to stay there.
“I know very well that in England, in this league, there are six top teams. Four go into the Champions League. Two have to stay out and play Europa League. Last season we saw this. It was very, very, very difficult.”
Chelsea kept just their fifth clean sheet of the season and their margin of victory might have been greater if Morata had converted two good opportunities to start things off in the first half.
“For a big part of the game we played very well, with maturity and good possession, and tried to create and find the right ball between the lines, or to switch the plan,” Conte added. “We created many chances to score. We could have been more clinical in the first half.
“In this type of game, you must be able to kill the game. If you keep the result in the balance, you risk drawing in the end. But I think we deserved to win.
“A good win for our confidence, a good win before another tough game against Roma in the Champions League. I think I saw a lot of positive things.”
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