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Antonio Conte runs into problems ahead of Newcastle

6 years ago
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Antonio Conte watched his Chelsea team eventually overcome Swansea on Wednesday night.

However, when the 55th minute only goal of the game came from Antonio Rudiger, the Chelsea boss was watching it in the dressing room on TV.

As Swansea repeatedly time wasted, Antonio Conte had got increasingly angry.

The blues manager snapping and getting sent from the dugout after disputing a decision not to award Chelsea a corner.

He is now looking at a touchline ban which could come in as early as Saturday for the Newcastle match, Conte saying that he didn’t enjoy the experience  of not being able to communicate with his players.

Antonio Conte:

“After the game I think it’s right to apologise.

“I saw that Swansea were wasting time.

“I said this to the fourth official and I was frustrated. I tried to tell again. Then the referee took this decision and I apologise for this.

“I was frustrated with this situation, I tried to tell again and the referee reacted to this situation.

“For this, I apologise, for sure I made a mistake but I suffer during the game. I suffer with my players, it is a pity.

“I suffered in the same way, also in the changing room, also on the video (after being sent from the dugout). I didn’t have the possibility to communicate with my players, it was very strange.”

Conte also revealed that David Luiz is also set to miss the Newcastle match:

“He (Luiz) had liquid in his knee and we have to assess his recovery on the time, I hope to not lose him for a lot of time and I need to have all my players.”

Chelsea moved to third in the Premier League and whilst they only won 1-0, the stats tell a story.

A combination of the Swansea time wasting and Fabianski being man of the match, had understandably frustrated Antonio Conte.

Chelsea had 21 shots to Swansea’s 2, whilst when it came to shots on target it was 10-0 to the home side.

With corners it was 15-1 superiority for the blues but the failure to convert their dominance will give Rafa Benitez some encouragement ahead of Saturday.

Not so comforting will be the fact that Conte felt confident enough to give Eden Hazard a rest when dropping him to the bench last night, only giving him a few minutes as a late sub.

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