Antonio
Conte is glad Chelsea have found their stability after beating West Brom 4-0
but is not sure Manchester City can be caught.
First-half goals from Alvaro Morata, Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso ensured a
comfortable victory at the Hawthorns before Hazard added a second after the
break.
Conte liked what he saw from his team as they built on their win over
Manchester United prior to the international break to make it four Premier
League wins on the bounce.
"We must be pleased because the performance was positive, it was very good,"
he told Sky Sports. "From the start of the game we showed great focus and
great concentration.
"Do not forget that [although] this game became easy, last season we
struggled a lot in both games against West Bromwich.
"I have watched a lot of games of West Bromwich this season and I think they
deserved more points, but today I think we outplayed West Bromwich."
Morata and Hazard assisted each other for the first two goals and are
forming an impressive partnership since Conte switched to a 3-5-2 formation
with the Belgian in a more central role.
The Chelsea boss insisted it was a team effort but was pleased by their
blossoming understanding.
"I would like to speak about the performance of the whole team because today
we showed great compactness and great focus," he added.
"But for sure, there is a good link with the two strikers, Morata and
Hazard. I hope they continue in this way.
"If you want to do something important, it is very important to find
stability and find the right balance.
"In the first part of the season, for many reasons, we did not have this
type of stability. I am trying to change something in our formation.
"We are recovering our players. There is only [Victor] Moses but he is very
close. I think that now we have more players available we have to fight to
try to win every game."
The three points took Chelsea above Tottenham but they remain nine adrift of
leaders Manchester City and Conte does not appear too optimistic about
catching Pep Guardiola's team.
"I must be honest, Manchester City now is playing very well and it is very
difficult to think that you can catch up with them," he said. "They win
every game and they have drawn one game.
"On this run, it is very difficult to think something positive, you know?
But we have to look to ourselves and to play like we did today."
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