Antonio Conte has turned up the heat on Arsenal, describing them as Premier League title favourites and warning them they face burgeoning levels of pressure. The Tottenham manager, who is preparing for Sunday’s derby against them, wants to see whether they can handle it.
Conte was also asked about the Football Association charges that Arsenal have drawn for failing to control their players in their past two games – Newcastle in the league and Oxford in the FA Cup. Amid a call for respect, he said that he hated people who tried to intimidate referees.
Conte won the league with Chelsea in 2016-17 having led from the front and he knows how it is to be a target for the rest, how the tension rises. After 17 games, his team were nine points clear. Arsenal are five ahead of second-placed Manchester City after that number of matches.
“When you are at the top of the league the perception of your opponents changes totally,” Conte said. “You are in that moment the best team in the league. For this reason, everybody wants to beat you. For sure, Arsenal has to face this situation [as] favourites to win the league. They have to show they are good to face this type of situation.
“Arsenal are doing very well. Now they have to show they can stay there until the end of the season because I’m sure Manchester City doesn’t agree and will feel the real possibility to win again, especially because Liverpool already lost a lot of points – the same for Chelsea and Manchester United. It is a battle between Arsenal and Manchester City.”
The capacity of Mikel Arteta’s side to get players around the referee at contentious moments has been thrown into sharper focus by the FA charges, even though they are far from the only team to engage in this kind of gamesmanship. Conte was asked whether he was worried about them trying to pressure the referee for the derby, Craig Pawson.
“In an important game like this, I like to see that respect is always at the top, OK?” he replied. “You have to show respect in every situation and especially with the referee because I know very well the difficulty to be a referee. To intimidate or create a bad atmosphere is not fair. I hate the people that try to do it.
“Sometimes things happen in the emotion. I remember very well against Sporting [in the Champions League this season], we scored in the 95th minute and then we stayed five minutes to wait for the VAR decision [to disallow it]. I was really upset but I never lacked the respect for the referee. He sent me off because I went on to the pitch but in every moment you have to show respect.
“I am really upset when the VAR made a mistake. But with referees’ decisions … they can be positive or negative for you but we are human. We can make mistakes.”
Conte talked about how clubs essentially had two paths to success – either to build gradually around young players, showing faith in them and the manager over a period of time, especially in the difficult moments as Arsenal have done with Mikel Arteta. Or to “accelerate the process” by signing experienced players who know how to win. He cited Manchester United as an example of this approach.
There are no prizes for guessing which track Conte is on at Spurs. “Arsenal is doing a good job but I remember the problems they had at the start of last season,” he added. “When I talk about time and patience, it’s not an alibi. It’s a situation I know.”
Spurs are interested in the Brighton forward Leandro Trossard, who has been disciplined by his manager, Roberto De Zerbi, after leaving a training session without permission. The Belgium international’s representatives issued a statement on Friday evening stating he wants to leave the club, in what appears a clear attempt to force a move to north London.
De Zerbi had told him that he would not start against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and he will now not play against Liverpool on Saturday. “I spoke with him and I explained this attitude, this behaviour, I don’t like,” De Zerbi said.
