Topics: English Premier League, Manchester City, Chelsea, Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte has defended his side’s approach in Sunday’s away defeat to Manchester City.

The Italian manager’s team has lost against a side from Manchester by a goal difference in two successive Premiership games. The recent encounter which took place at the Etihad saw the former Juventus manager start Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro as his attacking trident with club record-signing Alvaro Morata and newest arrival Olivier Giroud starting from the bench.

The Blues’ ineptitude in front of goal was accentuated in the fact that they failed to record a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes. The Londoners’ misery was further compounded when Bernardo Silva scored the game’s only goal barely a minute into the second half. 

Speaking after the game, Antonio Conte was adamant to fault his tactics which resulted in a drab performance by the defending champions. 

"My tactics were not to concede space between the lines, not to concede space to Manchester City because if you do that you risk losing by many goals," the Italian told Sky Sports.

"They have a fantastic mentality without the ball, they want to run, they want to press. They are a really strong team, a really good team with a great mentality and great quality.

"If you give City space to us the game can finish not 1-0.

"It's not good enough [the lack of shots on target] but this is the truth. I don't think it was because of the tactics but the game was like this and we tried to do our best

"It's not simple at this moment to play against Manchester City. You have to play with great intensity in every moment. We tried to do this, we tried to defend well, but we conceded a goal after 30 seconds of the second half and it was very difficult to come back."

Chelsea is currently five points short of fourth place with nine matches left to be played this season.