Antonio Conte watched his Chelsea side beaten 3-1 at home by Spurs Sunday but won’t concede the top four is beyond the Blues
LONDON, United Kingdom, Apr 2- Antonio Conte insisted that he was not worried about his future after defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday left Chelsea eight points behind their London rivals in the race for the final Champions League qualification spot.
Rumours are circulating that the Italian will leave Stamford Bridge in the summer if Chelsea fail to qualify for the Champions League, a fate that looks increasingly likely given their are just seven games remaining.
“No, I’m not worried,” Conte said, when asked about his future.
“Honestly. I think that I’m giving – the players are giving – everything this season. We are working very hard to try to have a good season, but I think that, in the end, we are deserving this season. It means that our value is this.
“You have to ask the club, not me. I repeat: my task is to work, to work and I know I work 24 hours for Chelsea. Me and my staff. This is our task. Then the club has to take the decision. But, I repeat, I’m not worried about this.”
Asked of his complaints about not being fully backed in the transfer market, and whether Chelsea’s position was a result of this, Conte said: “I think that now is not the right moment to say. I said this before. Now is the moment to try and continue to work with great professionalism.
“We are doing this. We are doing this and we have to try until the end to do our best. But I think that, if we are in this position, we deserve to be in this position.
“It’s difficult… I don’t know. I think I have my idea, my opinion, but I don’t want to tell you in this situation. I’m very tired for one season to repeat always the same things. I have my opinion and I’ll keep that in my mind. I don’t want to create problems.”
Nevertheless, he said that his team would not give up the race for the top four.
“I don’t know. On the one hand, we must be realistic and understand the teams that stay ahead of us are going very fast, at great speed. Today we had a great chance to close the gap with Tottenham and we lost this chance.
“On the other hand, we have to know that, until the end, we have to try and do our best. To try in these seven games to do everything and try to take a place in the Champions League. But it won’t be easy. We know this.”
