Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola play down reported bust-up at Stamford Bridge

The win helped the league leaders retain a seven-point cushion over second-placed Tottenham Hotspur with eight games remaining.

Pep Guardiola aimed a small dig at Chelsea following an alleged tunnel row after Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge this week.

Speaking at news conference ahead of City’s game with Hull City on Saturday, Guardiola tried to play down the incident, although he did say that his teams are polite when they win. It was a good win, above all because we played after a bad defeat when we didn’t deserve to lose. “They have a lot of qualities”, Conte told BT Sport.

He said: “In the first Champions League game, especially in attack, against Steaua Bucharest when we won 6-0 (on aggregate)”.

However, the pair are due to meet again in the Premier League this weekend, and Guardiola will no doubt be hoping for a similar result as they bid to cement their top four status.

After full-time, members of Chelsea and City’s respective backroom teams were involved in a heated argument, according to reports by the Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph. Cabellero saved Hazard’s spot-kick but the rebound fell into his path and he made no mistake with the follow-up. We must think that Tottenham could win all their games.

“He’s an important player and he’s growing in his mentality”. Also he’s growing in his mentality. “In the second half we defended very well, with good balance”.

“This season for all my players, for me, we will remember this season if we win”. We took three points today, and Tottenham took three points the same. “For this reason, we have to win 18 points”.

The former England global defender, though, has backed Jose Mourinho’s side to win the Europa League this season.

Guardiola added that City will put all their energy into securing a place in next season’s Champions League by finishing in the top four.

City captain Vincent Kompany made his long-awaited return to the side at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Courtois saved from Leroy Sane and Kevin de Bruyne and it was truly end-to-end, as City’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal had been on Sunday, more of a basketball game. But it’s not enough.

Furthermore, Manchester United’s frustrating times continued as they only managed to steal a point against Everton. You need to go into games believing you can get results.

“So it is very hard to affect other teams or managers by playing mind games, as you call them in England. I feel very proud of this group of players”.

“If someone wants to know something about me, then they must ask me”.