Antonio Conte has admitted that the scale of Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in September still bothers him, despite his side going nine points clear at the top of the table in the time since.

That humiliation at the Emirates actually marked a turning point in Chelsea’s season, because it was the first time that the Italian went to a 3-4-3 that instantly initiated the beginning of a 13-game winning run, but the Stamford Bridge boss said “in my mind, it’s always present”.

“This defeat seems far [away], but it's important to remember the defeat against Arsenal because it was a bad defeat, 3-0 after the first half, and in my mind it's always present, this defeat.

“I hope also in the minds of my players. Tomorrow, for sure, this game will be very difficult and I think it's important to remember the first game against Arsenal. I think a lot of things have changed now.

“But, for sure, we are a team. We want to have a good game tomorrow against Arsenal and try to win. We play at home and we have our fans to push a lot. For these reasons, we want to play a good game, to win, but it will be a really tough game and we must play great attention.”

Conte also again denied reports that Chelsea had put in a deadline day bid for Celtic’s Moussa Dembele, but admitted that did try to sign his teammate Craig Gordon as number-two goalkeeper in order to allow Asmir Begovic to leave. The Bosnian has been eager to get regular football, and Chelsea would have let him go elsewhere had they managed to get in a replacement.

Conte denies talking to Chelsea about Moussa Dembele (Getty)

“Honestly, on Dembele, I never spoke to my club about this player. For Gordon, we tried to help Asmir Begovic to satisfy his request to go and play every game, and I always told him if we were able to find the right solution, the right replacement, he could leave. For sure, Gordon was one of the goalkeepers on the list, to try and bring him here. We tried, but when the club told us it was not possible, that he was not for sale, it finished.”

Conte meanwhile dismissed Pep Guardiola’s assertion that the title is Chelsea’s to lose as mere mind games.