Antonio Conte Slams 'Negative Bulls--t' Chelsea Talk Amid Title Race Struggles

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has hit out at the criticism surrounding Chelsea for their failure to compete with Manchester City in the title race. 

Per MailOnline's Jack Gaughan, he said:

"It is very difficult to think that you can fight for the title when you have a team like Manchester City.

"The people, they think negative, negative. Bulls--t, bulls--t. You must be realistic. I prefer to tell the truth rather than a good lie.

"When do you get a team winning 15 out of 16 games? It's not simple to think in a positive way."

The Blues' defeat to West Ham United at the weekend left them trailing City by a significant margin, and they'll be disappointed not to have given their title a stronger defence having failed to meet the standard they set last season.

However, as bet365 demonstrated, they're far from the only ones who are lagging well behind the Sky Blues:

Chelsea's 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town has put them level with Manchester United 11 points behind City, though United and City are due to play Bournemouth and Swansea City, respectively, on Wednesday.

The Citizens' win over United on Sunday was a record 14th consecutive victory in the Premier League, and they're on course to rack up the most points and score the most goals in a Premier League season, having amassed 46 and 48, respectively.

The Blues hold those records having achieved 95 points in 2004-05 and scored 103 goals in 2009-10.

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker is among many who believe City already have a hand on the Premier League trophy:

Given no side has been able to come close to matching Pep Guardiola's team this season, it is perhaps unfair to single out Chelsea for criticism.

In regards to the Blues, they're at least doing better than most of their rivals, per BT Sport's Jake Humphrey:

There's clear room for Chelsea to improve, and if they can do so they can make that deficit more respectable come the end of the season, ahead of what they hope will be a more serious challenge next year.

What City have done thus far is unprecedented, though, and that no side has been able to match them is more a testament to just how good they have been than the failings of their rivals.