Chelsea

Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta: 'We are not letting Antonio Conte down'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 06 February 2018

Cesar Azpilicueta insists that the Chelsea players are not letting down manager Antonio Conte following back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta has insisted that the team are not letting down manager Antonio Conte.

Speculation over the Italian coach's future at Stamford Bridge intensified following Monday night's 4-1 defeat to Watford at Vicarage Road.

The Blues, who were beaten 3-0 by Bournemouth in their previous game, had to play with 10 men for 60 minutes of the encounter against Watford after Tiemoue Bakayoko was sent off for a second yellow-card offence.

According to BT Sport, when asked if the players were letting Conte down, Azpilicueta said: "No. I think if you see the training sessions, we all fight hard.

"We are the first to be disappointed with the way the last two games went. That's really hard. We are getting penalised in the bad moments we are having in the game.

"It's not a long period, but in this league, which is so tough, you get punished as soon as you drop a bit. We are here altogether. We are all disappointed with the result.

"I know that there has been speculation all the time in the five to six years I have been here. As a player, what I want is to come back to the training pitch as soon as possible, to work hard and to get into Monday's game, to get the three points and to get our confidence back."

Chelsea sit fourth in the Premier League table, but Tottenham Hotspur are just one point adrift in fifth.