Chelsea Manager, Antonio Conte has thanked club fans for their loyal support as Eden Hazard’s double eased the pressure on the Italian with a 3-0 win over rock bottom West Brom on Monday.
Three-goal whipping at the hands of Bournemouth and Watford saw odds slashed on Conte becoming the latest Chelsea boss to be dismissed just nine months on from winning the Premier League.
However, Conte’s name was sung loudly around Stamford Bridge as the brilliance of Belgian Hazard either side of a second-half strike from Victor Moses moved Chelsea back into the top four.
“I think they are reading speculation, rumours on me, and for sure I am grateful to the fans for supporting me this way,” said Conte.
“Maybe in this year-and-a-half they understand my patience and will to defend this colour, this shirt, this badge.”
Chelsea climbed into fourth with the gap between Manchester United in second and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur now just four points in the race to join runway leaders Manchester City in next season’s Champions League.
“It’s not easy to lose two games but now we are back,” said Hazard. “We are Chelsea, we are the champions, we have to give everything.”
At the other end of the table, a third straight defeat is another huge blow to West Brom’s chances of survival with the Baggies now seven points adrift of safety and just 11 games remaining.
“We are going to fight until the end,” said Baggies boss Alan Pardew.
“The games coming up, looking at the calendar, this is our period. But it is not good saying they are good games, you’ve got to win them and that’s something we haven’t managed to do for a long time.”
Crucially for Chelsea ahead of a huge month on three fronts, Conte’s forward options were replenished as Olivier Giroud was handed his full debut, whilst club record signing Alvaro Morata made his return as a second-half substitute after nearly a month out with a back injury.
West Brom were dealt an injury blow themselves inside three minutes when former Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge limped off to be replaced by Jay Rodriguez.
