Antonio Conte believes that he is proving his doubters wrong as Chelsea manager, after guiding the team to the top of the Premier League table.

Chelsea play Manchester City away on Saturday lunch-time and can briefly give themselves a four-point lead if they win. It would be a remarkable turnaround after Chelsea were beaten 3-0 at the Emirates on 24 September. Since then Chelsea have won seven league games in a row, scored 19 goals and conceding just one.

It has been a brilliant run, and Conte reflected yesterday how different it was from his unveiling as Chelsea manager in July at Stamford Bridge, when he had to pick the team up after the second Jose Mourinho era. He said that he drew strength from the doubts he faced when he took over.

“I remember in my first press conference that not many people trusted in Chelsea, in our work,” Conte said. “I think this must be a great strength for us to continue to work and change people's opinions.”

Conte is a workaholic and he was proud of how his hours on the training ground are now bearing fruit in the form of his team. “I have to work with my team to reach the best results for us,” Conte said. “We are working for ourselves, for our club, for our fans, to show that we love this shirt, we love this club.”

Now that Conte has set Chelsea on the right path he wants to keep driving them forward, hoping to take them back into the Champions League.



“It's normal if you are a great team like Chelsea, and you are the manager of this great team, the expectation is always high,” Conte said. “Sometimes it's right to be high. Sometimes you have to wait because you are building something important. But now it's a case of continuing to work to show that Chelsea can fight for a place in the CL, to fight for the title, to fight to beat the best teams in this league.”

Diego Costa will go up against Sergio Aguero tomorrow as the best striker in the country. The Brazilian wanted to return to Atletico Madrid over the summer but he stayed at Chelsea and has been re-born under Conte’s management.

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“At the start of the season, the questions were all about Diego, about making sure his passion was used in the right way and if I could help him do that,” Conte said. “I always replied that Diego is a fantastic striker and I was sure that, this season, he'd be focused to improve himself, to improve Chelsea. I think this is happening.”