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Antonio Conte

LONDON. — Antonio Conte is on the verge of winning the English Premier League soccer title in his first season at Chelsea and the uncompromising Italian has challenged his players to now go in for the kill. Buoyed by second-placed Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat West Ham on Friday night, Conte’s side host Middlesbrough tonight knowing they need six points from their last four games to be crowned champions.

The match kicks-off at 9pm.

A title race that looked set to go down to the wire now seems certain to be a lengthy coronation party for Chelsea, who can clinch the trophy with a victory at West Bromwich Albion on Friday, providing they defeat Middlesbrough first. That would cap an incredible revival of Chelsea’s fortunes under Conte’s astute leadership.

When the former Italy and Juventus boss arrived at Stamford Bridge last July he faced the tricky task of uniting a squad split into feuding cliques following Jose Mourinho’s sacking the previous season. Against that acrimonious backdrop it was something of a gamble by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to hire a manager with no experience of the English Premier League.

Conte seemed unsure how he would tame a team of prickly and fragile egos and the alarm bells were ringing when Abramovich felt compelled to make a visit to Chelsea’s training ground following successive defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal in September. — AFP