'Our rivals are jealous of our lead not our fixtures' - Chelsea's coach Antonio Conte fires back at Mourinho & Wenger

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Chelsea coach Antonio Conte has fired back at rival managers Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp after they criticized Chelsea for not having a congested fixture list compared to others, which means they have an easy ride in the EPL title race.

Conte, whose side are top of the table with a five‑point lead after a run of 13 consecutive league wins and play Tottenham on Wednesday, their third game in 10 days over Christmas and new year. 

 Man United played three games in eight days with a win at West Ham United while Arsenal played Bournemouth on Tuesday night- their second match in three days.

But Conte taunted Mourinho and Wenger, saying they are only jealous of Chelsea's position at the top of the table and not Chelsea's fixture list.

“I can reply that I didn’t do the fixtures,” Conte said in the pre-match press conference. I think that’s the simple reply.

“The advantage we have is one more day of rest over Tottenham [since the weekend matches]. That’s the advantage if we want to speak about advantage. But for me, the advantages are other things – during a season, different situations can happen when you can have advantages – but, for sure, not this.

“I think they [the rival managers] are angry for our position, not for the fixtures. I’m not disappointed. I think it’s normal. This also happens in Italy. I repeat – it’s always because you stay up [at the top].

 If Chelsea were to defeat Tottenham on Wednesday, they would equal Arsenal’s top‑flight record in English football for consecutive wins.

“It’s logical to arrive at this sort of situation when you stay up because, at the start of the season, no one could imagine this,” Conte said. “It’s important that we continue in the same way – to think about ourselves and not look at the other teams and other situations.”