Chelsea manager Antonio Conte admitted that Tottenham Hotspur were now “the best team” in the Premier League after his side lost 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Conte added that Chelsea now have a 50-50 chance of winning the title even though they have a four-point lead at the top of the table. Chelsea were 13 points clear when they beat Stoke City on March 18. Conte said he had to take the blame for United’s 2-0 win, admitting his players were not focused or motivated enough to win.
“They [United] showed more desire, more ambition, more motivation,” he said. “It is very simple and in this case the fault is with the coach. It means the coach was not able to transfer the right concentration, desire, ambition to win this game.”
Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera scored for United as manager José Mourinho declared that he had found a specific system to overcome Chelsea, man-marking Eden Hazard and Pedro.
“We lost two games but those games were totally different,” Conte said. “Against Crystal Palace [a 2-1 defeat] we didn’t deserve to lose. Today we deserved to lose the game. We didn’t play a good game and United deserved to win. We have to think there are six finals from now until the end of the season. The league is open and we have a 50% [opportunity] to win the league. It will be good to finish on top of the table and, if so, it means we deserve this. Otherwise we must clap another team.”
With Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois missing the game due to injury, the Chelsea manager will now face the Spurs in their FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
“It won’t be easy because I think Tottenham are now the best team. They are in good form and they have a lot of enthusiasm. They are feeling the possibility to write history and it is important for us to know this.”
However, Conte backed his team to get the job done under pressure and the team will come back stronger than ever.
“I must have confidence, in myself, in the players, in the club, because it is not the first time we have faced this kind of situation,” the Italian added. “It is important to understand which was wrong today and then to restart together but – I repeat – for the performance today the fault is mine.”
