Chelsea are set to face their great London rivals Arsenal tomorrow, as the Blues host the North London side at Stamford Bridge hoping to extend their gap to the Gooners by 12 points.
Antonio Conte has talked to the press ahead of the exciting fixture, which ended 3-0 for the opposition side last time out in September.
The Italian tactician has talked about the previous meeting and warned how important it is for the Blues players to remain focused and hungry for yet another victory.
“The defeat (to Arsenal) seems far, but it is important to remember the defeat to Arsenal. It was a bad defeat after the first half. In my mind it is alway present, I hope it is in the players.
Tomorrow it will be very difficult and it is important to remember the first game. A lot of things have changed now. For sure we are a team that want to have a good game tomorrow, to try to win. We play at home, we want our fans to push a lot. We want to play a good game, to win. We must pay great attention.
If we win the game tomorrow for sure it is a good hit for us to improve your table, have Arsenal 12 points is very good. Tomorrow I am sure it is a really tough game. They beat us in the first game and they have the possibility to do it again.
That is why we have to be focused, to have the same hunger and will to fight to try to win. I like to repeat to our players to look at ourselves.
Chelsea were linked with a move for Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon following Asmir Begovic’s desire to leave the club for Bournemouth, who had made a £10m bid for the Chelsea second choice keeper.
The Scottish were not keen to sell their key player, but speculation was also linking their French striker Moussa Dembele to a big-money Chelsea move before the end of January transfer window, but Conte confirms that only the news about Gordon were correct.
We tried [to sign Gordon], we tried to help Begovic to play every game. I told him if we could find the right solution then he could leave.
Gordon was one of the goalkeepers in the list. We tried, but the club told us it was not possible. [But] I never talked about the club for this player (Moussa Dembele).”
– Antonio Conte, Football.London
Tomorrow’s fixture between Chelsea and Arsenal will kick off at 0130pm, with more details of the game on our match preview.
