Friday’s round of Premier League press conferences saw several interesting points raised, including the response of Antonio Conte to Richarlison’s explosive interview and Graham Potter revealing a double blow for Chelsea ahead of the game against Leicester. Here are four of the biggest talking points from Friday’s Premier League press conferences…
Conte labels Richarlison ‘selfish’
Spurs attacker Richarlison hit the headlines earlier this week when he criticised manager Antonio Conte for not selecting him against AC Milan and said his season had been “s***”.
Conte was asked about his response to Richarlison’s claims ahead of Tottenham’s game with Nottingham Forest, and believes the Brazilian’s interview was a mistake.
“He is right,” Conte said.
“He started well with us, he then had an injury and went to the World Cup and had another serious injury.
“He’s scored zero goals with us [in the Premier League], only two goals in the Champions League and the guy was really honest to say his season was not good.
“His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play I’ll give him the opportunity.
“I think he understood he made a mistake because when you speak with I, I and I, not us, it means you are thinking only about yourself and you are selfish.
“I repeat to my players, if we want to build something important, fight for something important, fight to be competitive and win a trophy, we have to speak with ‘we’.
“If we speak I, I and I, we are only thinking about himself. The guy understood very well and apologised, which is good because I had an opportunity to clarify for another time the spirit of the team.”
Double blow for Chelsea
Graham Potter has been burdened by injuries since taking over as head coach of Chelsea, a contributing factor to his difficult start to life at the Blues.
And while players are starting to return, Potter was dealt yet another blow before the clash with Leicester with both Reece James and Raheem Sterling unlikely to feature having played in the Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund earlier this week.
“Reece has been ill, so hasn’t trained today,” Potter said.
“He won’t make the game tomorrow. Raheem had a little feeling in his hamstring, so looking doubtful tomorrow.”
Out of favour striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has also been ruled out. “Aubameyang has a slight problem with his back so he’s looking like he’ll miss the game,” Potter added.
Walker claims being looked into by Man City
Following allegations in The Sun that Kyle Walker indecently exposed himself in a bar, Man City boss Pep Guardiola was asked for his response.
“It’s a private issue, we solve it internally and we are speaking with him,” Guardiola said.
“This is not the place to talk about private situations.”
Silva praises Arsenal
It is another big weekend in the title race, with Arsenal looking to keep their gap over Man City by beating Fulham on Sunday.
Fulham are enjoying a fine season under manager Marco Silva, who was full of praise for the Gunners ahead of the clash and their ability to score late goals to win games.
“They have been really consistent, playing good football, adapting really well, and reacting really well when something goes wrong,” he said.
“When they don’t achieve a good result straight away, comes the reaction. It was a good example after the defeat to City at home and Everton, two bad results but after straight away they react well with late goals and they are winning in some important games as well.
“They are getting the maturity and experience to react in the right way and it will be a really tough game for us but we are going to do our best to be really tough for Arsenal.”
