Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has admitted he is unsure whether or not Manchester City can be caught this season in the league after their glorious start to proceedings so far.

The Italian’s Chelsea side look to be back in fighting form having shipped four past strugglers West Brom during their 4-0 victory at the Hawthorns, but despite them making their way further up the table, Conte is not feeling all too confident about their chances of defending the league crown.

Alvaro Morata, Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso all scored in the first half to put the game to bed, and Eden Hazard secured the Baggies’ fate in the second. Conte admitted his joy at Chelsea’s victory, and praised the compactness of his side.

“We must be pleased because the performance was positive, it was very good,” he told Sky Sports. “From the start of the game we showed great focus and great concentration.

“Do not forget that [although] this game became easy, last season we struggled a lot in both games against West Bromwich.

“I have watched a lot of games of West Bromwich this season and I think they deserved more points, but today I think we outplayed West Bromwich.

“I would like to speak about the performance of the whole team because today we showed great compactness and great focus,” he added.

“But for sure, there is a good link with the two strikers, Morata and Hazard. I hope they continue in this way.

“If you want to do something important, it is very important to find stability and find the right balance.

“In the first part of the season, for many reasons, we did not have this type of stability. I am trying to change something in our formation.

“We are recovering our players. There is only [Victor] Moses but he is very close. I think that now we have more players available we have to fight to try to win every game.”

However, with Chelsea still 9 points off the leaders Man City, Conte admitted it will be a difficult task to catch up with them.

“I must be honest, Manchester City now is playing very well and it is very difficult to think that you can catch up with them,” he said. “They win every game and they have drawn one game.

“On this run, it is very difficult to think something positive, you know? But we have to look to ourselves and to play like we did today.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]