Alvaro Morata was benched again against Swansea on Saturday (Picture: Getty)

Antonio Conte has highlighted Alvaro Morata’s lack of goals as the main reason Chelsea have failed to retain their Premier League crown.

The Spain international made an impressive start to his Stamford Bridge career following his club-record £58million move from Real Madrid in the summer, but has struggled over the course of the second half the campaign.

Morata was left on the bench as January signing from Arsenal Olivier Giroud started and scored in last weekend’s FA Cup semi final win over Southampton.

Alvaro Morata replaced Olivier Giroud with five minutes remaining against Swansea (Picture: Getty)

Conte again opted to pick the in-form Giroud from the start against relegation-threatened Swansea on Saturday where an early Cesc Fabregas goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win.




Morata replaced Giroud with five minutes remaining and after Chelsea failed to make the most of their opportunities to record a more convincing victory, Conte chose to focus on the former Juventus man’s profligacy.

‘We are not clinical. In the last period we can kill the game, but the game was still in the balance,’ said Conte.

‘If your best scorer has only 12 goals, it is difficult to fight for something important.’