Chelsea Boss Provides Update On In-Form Morata

“Everyone is talking about Kevin De Bruyne”.

Chelsea’s task was made more hard by top scorer Alvaro Morata hobbling off with apparent hamstring discomfort after 35 minutes.

If both Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata are firing this weekend, then expect Chelsea FC to cause a lot of problems for the Manchester city defence.

“It’s impossible to press box-to-box and after 30 minutes you don’t have the energy to continue to play this game”. “I think that I have players who try to make the best decisions”. “Today we gave everything”.

However, emulating Kante on a regular basis will take some doing – no player has made more tackles or interceptions in the Premier League this season.

City have been at their marauding best for several weeks whilst Chelsea have the ability to pack the midfield and stop a team playing as they did away at Spurs, but would they do it at home.

Conte simply doesn’t trust Morata’s alternatives and as a result Chelsea now find themselves six points off the Manchester clubs in a competitive title race.

Morata’s injury forced Conte to change his plans and play without a conventional No.9 as Willian partnered Eden Hazard up front, but Chelsea’s coach is hopeful his star striker can use the October global break to recover without missing matches.

“I am very proud to be the coach of these players”.

Hazard is due to jet off with Belgium for their World Cup qualifying fixtures against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Gibraltar.

“I think for us he showed in every game great talent and to be a really good player”. “It’s a simple tactical decision”.

With Premier League leaders City looking strong, Blues boss Conte wants Hazard to help the champions draw level on points with the leaders at Stamford Bridge.

After the game, Conte seemed confident that the issue was minor. It’s important to understand when there is the room to travel, to go to see a game or for other situations. For Conte, and Chelsea’s fans, the fact that Hazard is back on board will make them believe anything is possible, especially given his burgeoning relationship with Alvaro Morata.

Liam is ESPN FC’s Chelsea correspondent.