Antonio Conte wants Chelsea to 'fight to the end' in title race

Chelsea are in third place after a 2-0 victory over Brighton at Stamford Bridge and their manager's ambition now is to produce a strong second half to the season

Antonio Conte has urged his men to keep fighting - no matter how futile it may seem (Getty)

Antonio Conte admits Chelsea's aim for the remainder of the season must be to scrap with their rivals competing in Manchester City's wake.

City's lead at the Premier League summit could increase to 15 points by Wednesday night and Conte knows that only an extraordinary collapse in form will prevent them from romping to the title.

Chelsea are in third place after a 2-0 victory over Brighton at Stamford Bridge and their manager's ambition now is to produce a strong second half to the season.

"There is great motivation to fight until the end. I don't know if we can do this for the title because it depends on Manchester City, who are having a fantastic run," Conte said.

"With the other top teams, we stay there to fight. There is great motivation for us and other teams to get a place in the Champions League next season.

"We want to improve. Our start this season wasn't great for many reasons, but we want to improve and be proud to play every game.

"We wanted to win this game because it was very important to start the second part of the season with a win. We are doing a good job but we have to continue in this way."

Brighton manager Chris Hughton admitted the undoing of his side's resolute first-half defending by Alvaro Morata so soon after the interval was a crushing blow, but was more frustrated by the second scored by Marcos Alonso.

"When you analyse the game, it wasn't dramatically different to what you thought it would be. They had a lot of possession, probed, asked questions and we had to defend well," Hughton said.

"For me the two biggest disappointments are the timing of the first goal, which gave them a real lift, and conceding the second one from a set play.

"Set plays are the area where you'd think we can be on the same level. At 1-0 you're till in the game, no matter how much possession they have. We're hugely disappointed with the two goals.

"At half-time the message was very much 'more of the same'. We knew they would push even harder and become more expansive and up their game.

"We did well in the first half, but a goal so early in the second half knocks you back and gives them a lift."

PA