Pain's the name of the game for Antonio Conte - and Chelsea have more than proved their resilience this season

Speaking ahead of his side's clash with Burnley on Sunday, the Italian made it clear that he expects nothing but intensity and commitment from his players, no matter the pain it brings

The Italian said he loves those players who fight to the bitter end for his side (Getty)

Amid the jokes and laughs of Antonio Conte’s press conferences on Friday afternoon, the Italian raised a serious point as he compared his pain threshold to that of his wife’s. Having revealed moments before that defender David Luiz has been recently playing with a minor discomfort in his knee, Conte admitted: “I take the pain very well. My wife? No.” Using the example of a hot Italian summer day, he suggested he could bear the “40 degrees” heat but his other half could not.

Expanding upon a rare glimpse into his personal life, the Italian explained: “I think that there are different persons generally…because there is someone that can live with the pain more than another person.

“I think this is a different person to take pain in a different way. But I love the players that show me this type of behaviour.”

As a combative and industrious midfielder during his own days as a player, Conte expects nothing else but dogged determination and relentless commitment to the cause, no matter the pain it brings. For him, the ability to dig deep, grit your teeth and push onwards separates the wheat from the chaff. Touching upon his past experiences, the Italian spoke at length of the need to instil this intensity, or “tension” as he called it, within his own Chelsea players.

“Honestly, I like to keep always the right tension in my players,” he said. “When I know you are coming after a good win, it will be relaxing [but] I try to avoid this, to try to find the solution to increase the tension before a game, before a training session. This is a part to improving your winning mentality.

“When I was a footballer for me it was very important to hear my coach warn me, to warn the team ‘pay attention’ because it's important to be focused, to be ready to fight, because if we go and we are a bit relaxed we risk to lose.

“It's very important… to feel [and understand] the changing room. If I feel relaxed… then I try to find the right solution."

Although Conte refused to divulge how he injects such intensity into his players - “I don’t prefer to tell the ways that I use,” he smiled - he must be doing something right. With nine points between Chelsea and Tottenham, and just three league defeats to their name this season, the Italian's team continue to look unstoppable.

One such individual who has been vital to the side’s startling ascent is David Luiz, a player that encapsulates the intense, gritty spirit that Conte has drilled into his men. Indeed, the Italian praised the Brazilian for his willingness to fight through his pain, labelling him a “warrior”.

“He’s playing with a little pain in his knee, but he’s a warrior,” Conte said. “He’s playing very well. He’s showing me a great attitude, [a] great will to continue, to fight, despite having sometimes a bit of pain.”

David Luiz has flourished under Conte this season (Getty)

Luiz’s renaissance under Conte has come as somewhat of a surprise for many. As a defender whose style of play was famously compared by Gary Neville to “a 10-year-old in the crowd on a Playstation,” the Brazilian now radiates with intelligence and composure at the heart of Chelsea’s formidable defence.

The statistics bear testament to this. There are 54 players who have made an error directly leading to a goal this season. Twenty-three are defenders. Luiz is not one of them. With Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta handling marking responsibilities on either side of him, the Brazilian has matured at the back, making far fewer tackles per 90 minutes than in any of his first three seasons at Chelsea. He is therefore no longer diving in as much and has been dribbled past less often than in any of those seasons. With greater license to sweep, Luiz has also made more clearances this campaign than ever before. While 3-4-3 has helped Chelsea flourish further up the pitch, it has equally unlocked Luiz’s own potential at the back.

But for all his talk of ‘warriors’, Conte continues to recognise the value of respite. For his players to maintain the intensity that they do, the Italian stressed that relaxation remains vital to unleashing his side’s full potential.

Conte handed his players an extra day off this week (Getty)

“After the game against Arsenal I wanted to give them one day off more because I thought that they deserved this as we had an intensive week,” he explained. Conte himself flew out to Juventus to watch his former team in action.

“There are different moments,” he continued. “The moments when you must work very hard. I think in this season you have a lot of time where you work very hard but sometimes there is a moment that it's important also to have one day off, or two or three, for relax, for you, for your family, to come back fresher and to restart.”

Although pain may remain the name of the game, it’s perhaps Conte’s softer streak which goes some way to explaining Chelsea’s remarkable success this season. Either way, Burnley face quite the challenge in halting the Blues this Sunday.