Chelsea players ready to fight for embattled Antonio Conte, insists Cesar Azpilicueta

After publicly criticising his players in the wake of Monday's defeat, Conte opted to hand his players a two-day rest on Tuesday morning as he takes time to assess Chelsea's current struggles

Cesar Azpilicueta has said that his teammates aren't letting Antonio Conte down (Getty)

Antonio Conte may have launched a savage attack on his own side after Chelsea’s 4-1 defeat at Watford, but that hottest of heads had cooled by Tuesday morning. After Watford scored three goals in the last seven minutes of the game to clinch victory, Conte had claimed that his side played with fear, devoid of personality, and suggested that some of them simply were not up to the job of playing for a big club.

But with the passing of time came a realisation that this frantic, unforgiving festive period had not only been hard on the Italian. As such, players were given two days’ rest, with training cancelled as Conte takes time to work out how to turn things around. And those players will, in turn, fight for him amid talk of his imminent demise, says Cesar Azpilicueta:

“We know that there is speculation here all the time – it has been that way in the six years I have been here.

“Are the players letting the coach down? No. I think if you see the training sessions, we all fight hard. We are the first to be disappointed with the way the last two games went.

“We are getting penalised in the bad moments we are having in the game. It’s not a long period, but in this League, which is so tough, you get punished as soon as you drop a bit.

“As a player, all I want is to come back to the training pitch as soon as possible, to work hard and to get into Monday’s game against West Brom, to get the three points and to get our confidence back.”

Monday’s visit of West Bromwich Albion is now far more intriguing than any neutral observer would ever have thought.

The Baggies have a reputation as coach slayers, harbingers of doom for Premier League managers and, in particular, those heralding from Stamford Bridge.

Antonio Conte struck a dejected figure on the sidelines at Vicarage Road (Getty)

Seven have bitten the dust after games with Albion, including Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo. Defeat on Monday in front of a frustrated Chelsea crowd would be, at the very least, uncomfortable.

Privately, Chelsea sources are playing down the talk over Conte’s job. The club are, after all, still in fourth place in the Premier League and involved in three competitions, not counting Conte’s increasingly entertaining game of chicken with the Chelsea board.

But of course things will have to change drastically, on the pitch if nowhere else, following yet another listless defeat against struggling opposition. “Our performance was very poor,” Conte said. “We started very bad, without personality. We played with fear. We are not used to playing this type of football. We can lose, but always try to play football and try to be positive.”

And when asked to assess his own job security, Conte claimed not to be perturbed by the prospect of getting the sack, despite frequent run-ins with the Chelsea board over recent months. “My soul is clear,” Conte insisted, which if true is a hell of a thing to be able to put on your CV.

“I’m not worried about my job,” Conte said. “I work every day, and I give 120 per cent, OK? If this is enough, it’s OK. Otherwise, the club can take a different decision. Every day and every press conference, you ask me if I’m worried. No, I’m not worried. I can be the Chelsea coach or not. Which is the problem?”