West
Brom boss Alan Pardew has expressed sympathy for Chelsea head coach Antonio
Conte, who he believes has done little wrong since guiding the club to their
sixth league title last season.
Chelsea will go back above Tottenham into fourth place in the Premier League
if they can beat the Baggies at Stamford Bridge on Monday Night Football,
live on Sky Sports Premier League.
They go into the game on the back of two comprehensive defeats - 3-0 at home
to Bournemouth and 4-1 away to Watford - and Pardew feels they have lost the
momentum that is key to successful teams, while public displays of unease
over transfer policy from Conte have not helped the situation at Stamford
Bridge.
"I do feel sorry for the manager because the job he did last year was
absolutely outstanding and I don't really think he's changed too much," said
Pardew, who feels Diego Costa's return to Atletico Madrid has also
destabilised the Blues.
"Maybe the quality of the opposition has changed and maybe the players he's
had available haven't been to the consistency he had when he won it.
"But you cannot fault his record and the job he's done since he came to the
Premier League. Chelsea had great momentum last season and they played a
system that everybody was trying to deal with.
"We've all had extra time as managers to work out how to stop them so
there's been a little bit of that.
"He's had injuries, he hasn't got the momentum and momentum - that mystery
word that we keep using as managers - is such an important thing for giving
confidence to everybody."
Costa returned to Atletico for £57m last year after scoring 20 times to help
Chelsea claim the title in 2017.
They paid £60m to sign Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid as a replacement for
Costa but the Spain international has scored just three goals in his last 15
appearances.
Olivier Giroud also joined from Arsenal on Deadline Day for a fee in the
region of £18m but Pardew believes Chelsea are still struggling without
Costa.
"He's been a big miss because he's a big character on the pitch and he can
change the destiny of games, not so much with his ability sometimes - but
with his character," added Pardew.
"When you've got one of those at the top of the pitch they're very difficult
to replace."
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