Chelsea news: 'Mellow Antonio Conte?' Not a chance, reveals defender Marcos Alonso despite winning streak
Despite Chelsea's unbeaten run and impressive form, the defender insisted that Conte remains as focused and intense as ever
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso has revealed Antonio Conte has not mellowed despite the ten game winning run that has made the Blues favourites for the Premier League title.
Victory at Sunderland on Wednesday night meant that Chelsea have won every league game since the start of October, rattling up a similarly impressive eight clean sheets along the way.
Left-back Alonso, who was signed in the summer from Fiorentina for £23 million, admitted the standards are so high at Stamford Bridge under their new boss that that the target is now to equal the record of 14 games.
“We will be three off the record if we win on Saturday, that’s the main thing now,” said Alonso. “We focus for Saturday. We will speak about the record if we get it.
“No, the manager has not changed with the wins. He hasn’t mellowed, definitely not. He likes to work hard and he likes the players to give everything. That is something that is passed down to the players, and is very important for us.
“It is an amazing run. The team is doing great since I came. It’s been ten wins and eight clean sheets. That says a lot about how the team is putting everything in and training hard during the week. We have got to keep working and have a good rest for Saturday.
“We have a lot of games now. It’s going to be a tough Christmas period because we have a lot of tough games and so many in a short period of time. It’s going to be hard but we have to take it game by game.
“What does the dressing room feel like after ten wins? We are getting used to it. We don’t celebrate like we used to. Now we are working hard, and that is the main reason. It is easy to work during the week if you are winning. We have got to keep working hard to keep this atmosphere in the dressing room.”
Chelsea face relegation-threatened Crystal Palace on Saturday. They then have home games with Bournemouth and Stoke before game 14 pitches them with old rivals Tottenham.
The gap at the top of the Premier League table is opening up, with Liverpool and Arsenal trailing by six points but Alonso added: “Do we feel unbeatable? No, we know we’ve got to go 100 per cent to win. If we don’t go 100 per cent every game, we are not going to win because it is tough. Now we are working very well and are playing well.
“That (eight clean sheets) says a lot about how the team is defending – putting everything in and working hard. We have got to keep doing this. We have to thank Thibaut Courtois because he has been amazing. His two saves at Sunderland really gave us the three points.
“He has not participated that much in the last games! But against Sunderland he showed that he is there and that he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world. It was an amazing save at the end. The other one against Adnan Januzaj was amazing as well. He was very important.”
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