John Terry has failed to recover from an ankle ligament injury in time to feature for Chelsea at Arsenal on Saturday, with David Luiz set to retain his place at the heart of the visitors’ defence at the Emirates Stadium.
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Chelsea, who let in 53 league goals last season, have kept just one clean sheet in seven games this campaign.
“It’s normal (that Terry wants to play)”.
Roman Abramovich labeled top four as his minimum expectation for Conte at the start of the season, but even that must be in doubt as Chelsea was well-beaten by a team which has made getting into the Champions League its specialty.
“We are working to try to improve and reach a level always high and I think this team can improve a lot”.
Cesc Fabregas hopes that his match-winning performance in the EFL cup at Leicester on Tuesday will persuade Antonio Conte to award him a starting spot against his former club.
“This is a big game between two big rivals and it’s important to play a good game after our defeat against Liverpool”, he said.
“We must go there to impose ourselves and try and play good football to get a good result. I know we can improve a lot”.
I hope to see Zouma in the training session next week.
The loss leaves Chelsea eight points behind early pacesetters Manchester City in eighth but Conte feels comparisons to other sides are unhelpful to him at present.
“I have spoken with Conte; he is a coach who has a very particular playing philosophy”, he explained. Arsenal has good young players with great technique and good potential and organisation. There is a possibility that he can start tomorrow in the line-up.
“Sometimes I think it’s important for a manager not only to win, a good manager must show his value with his work during the week”. He is expected back in full training next week, and could be available for selection after the global break.
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“The fact he did well in [the Leicester game] does not mean he will play on Saturday but whether he is picked or not will tell us more about how big a part he plays in Conte’s plans”.
