Chelsea boss Antonio Conte believes his side have been handed the hardest possible draw in the FA Cup semi-final and says he wanted to avoid playing Tottenham Hotspur.
Conte has warned his Chelsea players that Tottenham know how to beat them after the FA Cup semi-final draw was made.
N’Golo Kante’s goal five minutes into the second half gave Chelsea a 1-0 win against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Ander Herrera was dismissed midway through the first half and Chelsea booked their place in the last four with a comprehensive victory against ten men.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs had already booked their places at Wembley and Conte admitted after the game that he wanted to avoid Mauricio Pochettino’s men because they’ve already beaten them once this season.
The two London rivals will meet at Wembley in April, just under three months on from Tottenham’s 2-0 win at White Hart Lane in the Premier League.
Two goals from Dele Alli ended Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak as Spurs ran out deserved winners, and remains the sole loss Conte has overseen since September.
“It’ll be an exciting game and an interesting draw for us,” Conte told reporters after Chelsea beat Manchester United to reach the semi-finals.
“In this phase, Tottenham, Arsenal or Manchester City – the level is high.
“I thought this before [the game],” said Conte, when asked if Spurs was the hardest draw Chelsea could get.
“[This season] there’s one win for us, one win for them.
“They showed they are able to beat us because it happened in the second leg [at White Hart Lane] but we’ve shown we can beat them.
“Now we will see what the result is in the semi-final but for sure it will be an interesting game.”
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