Tomorrow’s headliner Premier League fixture is a match-up of the last two league champions. Chelsea FC, the 2014-15 champs host current title holders Leicester City Saturday afternoon. (Here’s the link to our Chelsea starting XI prediction, and match preview, so be sure to check that out.)
Looming over this match, and taking the A block story line were rumors circulating in the Twitterverse, blogosphere, cyberspace and media world pertaining to Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte and his potential exit from Stamford Bridge.
Seems a bit ridiculous, huh? Dismissing Antonio Conte, already?! The team isn’t that bad, and actually making that move would be the very definition of trigger happy. The narrative wasn’t as much about Conte getting fired as it was about his possibly stepping down. Again though; totally ridiculous.
Turns out it’s actually all smoke, no fire. For whatever reason, if “reason” is the word you can use in this case, Antonio Conte became the boss with the best odds of being out of power next. Huh?
“I’m trying to find who put the money on,” a laughing Conte said at his weekly news conference.
“It’s very difficult, this. Very difficult to talk about this situation because I’m focused on my work, on improving the team. I have good communication and a good relationship with the club. It is nothing, nothing… I take this with a smile.”
“The pressure is the same here [as in Italy],” Antonio Conte added. “It’s normal. It’s normal to live with the pressure. The players do, too. When you are at a club, you want to win.
“You want to do good work. The pressure is a part of our job. It’s normal. I think it’s the same as in other countries.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.