Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has given manager Antonio Conte his backing following several rumours about his future at the club.
Conte’s first season in charge of Chelsea was outstanding as he lead the Blues to victory in the Premier League and narrowly missed out on the FA Cup. But things haven’t gone quite so swimmingly this season.
Chelsea find themselves 4th in the table, nine points off league leaders Manchester City. Many are questioning whether or not Conte or indeed higher management are happy with him being head coach, but Courtois has insisted the Italian has the full support of his players.
“When a top team has a few bad results the first thing people try to say is that the players are not happy and we’re not behind the coach,” Courtois told ChelseaFC.com.
“But against Watford, you saw we fought for every moment and we fought when we were down, so everybody can see we’re behind the coach.
“Those rumours are easy to spread but I don’t think they are true. If somebody is unhappy, instead of going to the press I think they would say it internally, so it’s not true.
“First of all, it’s the players that have to do it on the pitch so it was important to win, to fight. At the moment it’s more running, fighting and battling for every ball than maybe the best football.”
Courtois then spoke about Chelsea’s League Cup tie with Everton, the Toffee’s first match since sacking manager Ronald Koeman. But despite Everton’s woes, Courtois is aware of the threat the Merseyside club can pose.
“It’s a cup, and with any cup you want to win it,” the Belgian ‘keeper continued.
“You want to go far. With injuries, maybe we don’t have the possibility to rotate a lot so we will have to see what team the manager puts out, but I don’t think it’s a moment to relax.
“In the Premier League we have to fight to keep on winning games and the Carabao Cup is something else, so we must try to do our best and go far.
“Everton have been struggling at the moment. I don’t think they are playing badly but they have conceded some sloppy goals, and other teams have had more luck, but the Premier League is hard.
“This is another competition, though, and they will be ready to win it.”