Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud may start together at Wembley, says Chelsea boss Antonio Conte
Friday 20 April 2018 15:03, UK
Antonio Conte has confirmed he may start with Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata together in attack in Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final against Southampton on Sunday.
The two strikers played up front in the 2-1 win away to in-form Burnley on Thursday night, a result that keeps alive their slim hopes of pipping Tottenham to secure fourth place in the Premier League and with it a place in next year's Champions League.
Giroud and Morata seemed to gel well together and Conte is now contemplating the option of them playing in tandem again at Wembley.
"I was very pleased with their performance. It was the first opportunity I had to play with two strikers with these characteristics," he said.
"For many reasons it had been impossible to try this option [previously]. Now I know I have this option and it could be a possibility for Sunday's game to play with two strikers, and for the future.
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"We have this option, especially as the two players worked so hard during the game, with the ball and without the ball."
Morata appeared to react angrily after being substituted in the 71st minute at Turf Moor but Conte insisted the Spaniard was simply angry at having missed some key chances, most notably when he curled the ball around the post when one on one with Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope.
"Alvaro was angry not for the substitution but for the chances he missed within the game," added Conte. "It is normal. When you are a striker, you want to score.
"You want to improve your confidence and the only way to do this is to score."
Victory at Burnley leaves Chelsea chasing down Tottenham for fourth spot in the league and Conte admitted they will be pushing their London rivals hard to overtake them.
"There is a gap between ourselves and Tottenham. We are talking about five points, with four games to go," said the Italian.
"It won't be easy, also because it depends on Tottenham's results. At the same time, you have to try and get three points in every game.
"The only way we can hope until the end is to play with the same will and desire we showed against Burnley and in the second half against Southampton.
"Maybe with this desire, this fight to reach a good result, we have a possibility [of securing fourth place]."
