Chelsea manager Antonio Conte says Manchester City's habit of finding late winners is 'lucky'

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Antonio Conte believes Manchester City have had fortune on their side during their 15-match winning run in the Premier League, putting their habit of scoring late winners down to being “lucky”.

City are 11 points clear of their closest rivals, Manchester United, and 14 points ahead of Conte’s reigning champions Chelsea, and the manager said they must remain realistic. He also reiterated his frustration that Chelsea weren’t able to secure their priorities in the transfer market over the summer, noting that City “reached their first targets and created a great team”.

“Manchester City is building a strong team to lead in Europe and the world,” said Conte. “To have these 15 wins in a row, also you must be lucky, because in many games they won at the last minute or five minutes to go.”

Speaking before the visit of Southampton to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Conte admitted time is already running out to reel in the league leaders.

“When I speak, we must be realistic. In the last nine games we won seven games, drew one and lost one. And the distance, the gap, improved for Manchester City. Time is moving on. They are continuing to win.”

Southampton come into the game on a barren run without a victory in their past four matches, and Conte anticipates a reaction from Mauricio Pellegrino’s players.

“To find Southampton in this position, I’m a bit surprised. Their potential is more than this,” he said. ”I would prefer that Southampton had won the game against Leicester instead of losing in this way. This team are very strong. They’re a good team. The players are very fast. My expectation is to suffer. I have this sensation. We must pay great attention.”

Conte’s marquee summer signing, Alvaro Morata, is available again after a back problem and revealed this week that he has been watching videos of Didier Drogba, one of Chelsea’s greatest strikers.

“Two different players, different characteristics,” said Conte. ”Didier Drogba, I think, he wrote the history of this club. He’s a wonderful player, a wonderful striker. I think he’s more powerful than Alvaro, but Alvaro, don’t forget, has a lot of space for improvement.

“He’s strong physically, is a technical player. I see a great future for Alvaro.”