Chelsea trying to catch Manchester United, not Manchester City: Antonio Conte

Chelsea must be focused on trying to catch Manchester United – not Manchester City – according to head coach Antonio Conte

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte urged his team to forget about Premier League leaders Manchester City and focus on trying to catch United.

Antonio Conte’s Chelsea are third in the Premier League standings behind Manchester City’s at the top, five points ahead of Manchester United in second place. (Getty Images)

City’s lead at the top was cut to five points by United on Tuesday, with Chelsea a further six points back ahead of hosting Swansea City.

Pep Guardiola’s side have been flying atop the table with 12 wins from 13 matches, scoring 42 goals and conceding just eight.

Conte said Chelsea simply needed to focus on overtaking United, not high-flying City.

“We have to look at ourselves and not the others. Now our target must be to see the team that is before us. In this case, Manchester United,” the Italian told UK newspapers.

“If you leave Man City out of the table there is United and we are three points behind [before Jose Mourinho’s men beat Watford 4-2].

“Man City is doing something incredible until now but we have to trust to continue to improve in our work in our team and try to do our best. This is the right way.”

Chelsea are unbeaten in five league games, including a win over Manchester United and draw with Liverpool.

Conte said there were plenty of positives for his team after a poor start to the season.

“We are in November and trying to do our best. We have 11 points less than Manchester City but we have played all games against the other five top teams,” he said.

“We are in the second round of the Champions League. We have to play the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.

“For the problems that we had from the start of the season we are doing our best.”

.