Chelsea boss Antonio Conte taunts Tottenham over Premier League title race

ANTONIO CONTE has taunted Tottenham by claiming they should be walking away with the title this season.

Posted Monday, May 08, 2017 by Dailystar.co.uk

Antonio Conte is on course to win the Premier League in his first season at Chelsea

Spurs won nine games in a row before stumbling at West Ham to put Chelsea in pole position for the championship.

The Blues will be crowned champions if they win their next two games, at Middlesbrough tonight and West Brom on Friday, before Spurs play again.

But Conte believes Mauricio Pochettino will be kicking himself if that happens - because he insists the odds were stacked heavily in Tottenham's favour.

He points out Pochettino has had two years' longer to work with his team, who came third last year, while Chelsea finished a massive 20 points behind them in 10th.

Conte, whose side are only four points clear at the top despite winning 13 games in a row earlier this season, said: "I must be honest about this topic.

"I think Tottenham had an advantage if you compare them to Chelsea because Pochettino is a really good manager and is working with his team for a third year.

"And I think also Tottenham had another advantage. I mean Tottenham, last season, fought to win the title - and Chelsea arrived 10th.

"Tottenham, in their project, have an advantage if you compare them to us. This is my first season and I found a lot of situations.

"Pochettino has been working there for three years and has changed a lot of players, and is working very well.

"For me, Tottenham are a really strong team and it's normal to see them fighting for the title.

"In this season, if Chelsea had not performed in this way, Tottenham would win the title without difficulty.

"Only this great season from us is pushing them to fight and, maybe, to win or not to win the title.

"But, I repeat, Tottenham's position for me is more advanced if you compare Tottenham's to Chelsea."

Critics point to the fact Chelsea spent over £120m on new players in the summer while Spurs splashed out just £47m on a series of squad players.

The Blues have also had no European football to worry about, while Tottenham have had both Champions League and then Europa League fixtures to contend with.

Conte said: "But don't forget that Tottenham dropped at the first group stage, and then dropped in the first game in the Europa League.

"If you consider our games and their games, there is a difference of what, eight games?

"If you consider the squads, the numbers in each squad, you can see the difference - one team prepared to play the Champions League with 25 or 26 players, and another who prepared to play the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup.

"I think no one person thought this season that Chelsea could fight to win the title and could fight to be in the final of the FA Cup. For sure, we are in a moment of transition.

"We are losing a lot of top players who have written the story, the history, of this club.

"This season we lost Branislav Ivanovic, we lost John Obi Mikel and, next season, we'll have lost John Terry. Don't forget Oscar too, who went in the January market."

Despite his taunt, Conte still expects Spurs to be one of his main challengers for the title next season - but warned his rivals that Chelsea will spend big this summer.

They already have their eyes on Everton's Romelu Lukaku and Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata, while Conte also wants Alex Sandro from Juventus.

He said: "My expectation was a great challenge in this league against City, United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool.

"Next season for us it will be the same. But we have one year to work and then the possibility to go into the market and choose the right players on my idea of football."