Crystal Palace vs Chelsea: Antonio Conte wants his side's future to be even better than the present

After seeing Chelsea pick up an 11th straight win, the Italian advised his players to concentrate on the future rather than reflect on their run

Glenn Moore
Saturday 17 December 2016 17:03 GMT
Comments
Conte is staying calm despite his side's seemingly unstoppable form
Conte is staying calm despite his side's seemingly unstoppable form (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Antonio Conte hailed his record-equalling Chelsea team, but insisted they had to keep working as ‘anything can happen’ in the Premier League title race.

Conte’s men racked up their 11th successive win thanks to Diego Costa scoring the only goal at Crystal Palace and the manager said: “To win 11 in a row in this league is not easy. I hope to continue this run but every game is tough. We have got quality in the team but today, if we did not concentrate, focus, have the will to fight to go into the battle with your opponent, we lose the game.

“We are working a lot, we work a lot to reach this level in the table. In my first season in England it is fantastic to win 14 of 17, but we have 21 games to go, anything can happen. I like the present, but I want to like the future more. I want the future to be special for us and the only way is to work.”

"We feel very confident,” said defender Gary Cahill. “Physically, we are in good shape and fantastic players are in top form. We are organised and enjoying it."

That much was clear to opposing manager Alan Pardew whose own team suffered an eighth defeat in 11 league games, with only one win. “We have to get some points on the board and start winning games,” said Pardew, “but today was always going to be difficult. Chelsea are confident in defence, with good shape and discipline, and they just did enough offensively to edge it. We threw everything at them but they have great players and played well.”

Of his own team he said: “Every game is an opportunity to get points on the board. We had difficult fixtures at home in the first half of the season and that is where we need to improve our form.

Pardew will be looking forward to putting a dire calendar year behind him
Pardew will be looking forward to putting a dire calendar year behind him (EPA)

Palace have had a dire 2016 and Pardew added: “The back end of last season showed we needed to score more goals. We addressed that but then we began conceding too many. We have to get that balance right but I don’t have any fears for these players. They are a good group. No one could fault them for effort and commitment today. I think we will have a good year next year.”

"The positives are for everyone to see,” said defender Scott Dann. “ We came up against a top team, top of the league and we deserved to get something out of the game. We showed togetherness and commitment and if we continue that, we will start picking up points.

"We more than matched them for the majority of the game but they showed their quality for the goal. We have come up against two top teams this week and shown resilience. Hopefully, we will turn a corner."

Palace next go to Watford on Boxing Day, then close the year against Arsenal. Whether Pardew gets the chance to lead them in 2017 may depend on how they perform in those two fixtures.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in