Hazard expects three-way battle for Premier League title

“He is very important for us”, Conte said shortly after Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Spurs.

‘I’ve been unlucky with the keepers having good days or missing at the last moment, ‘ Eriksen told Tottenham’s official website.

Excluding last season, Stamford Bridge has always been known as a fortress for Chelsea.

Graeme Souness does not feel Philippe Coutinho’s injury will derail Liverpool’s title hopes – but he fears “scary” Chelsea could.

‘I’ve been in good positions and it’s just about taking the chance.

“I love the mentality of my players, I saw a great attitude and great commitment from all of them”.

“We showed fantastic character to start the way we did after what has happened in recent weeks in the Champions League”. It’s a matter of us playing like that for 90 minutes. That’s massive for us.

“We do lots of tactical work and video work, it depends who we’re playing”.

The 28-year-old is in prolific form and has hit 33 goals in his last 34 Premier League games for City.

“If you look at the bigger picture, this is our first loss”, Dier added.

“With that Chelsea team, they play a pragmatic type of football and won’t have to be at their best to win games”. “We just need to be more consistent”.

It’s been a frustrating few days for Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino and his team, who were eliminated from the Champions League midweek at the hands of Monaco and on Saturday their winless streak at the Brdige was extended to 30 games.

“Two months ago we went to Arsenal and weren’t ready, but now we know what we have to do”, he said of the defeat.

That precarious balance seems to have been achieved, especially since Conte tore up the script following back-to-back losses against Liverpool and Arsenal in September and switched to a back three.

“We have another type of confidence”.

“Fortunately, in my opinion, I’ve gone out there in training and in pre-season and proved I can be trusted”.

The Italian also demonstrated even more versatility at half-time, telling his players to be direct to neutralise Tottenham’s pressing game and enable them to get their full-backs higher up the pitch.