Conte: Luiz has proven a lot of people wrong at Chelsea

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is adamant that David Luiz has proved all his doubters wrong in the Blues’ rise to the top of the Premier League pile this term.

The south-west Londoners lost out to Manchester United and former manager Jose Mourinho on Sunday – their second defeat in four league matches, which has allowed Tottenham Hotspur to close the gap at the summit to four points.

But Chelsea’s fate is still in their own hands, with a string of very winnable matches to close out the Premier League campaign.

Brazillian player Luiz, re-signed from Paris Saint-Germain last summer for £30million, has been the rock at the centre of Chelsea’s resilient back three this season and Conte admits he has been satisfied to show that a lot of pundits – who were unimpressed with the acquisition – were mistaken.

“I read a lot of bad things about him, asking why is he coming back to Chelsea because in the past he performed bad, that he is not a defender, that we had spent a lot of money on him,” Conte said.

“I think this was a great challenge for him but also for me, because when you have a player with great ability, you can work to try to improve some situations.

“It is great, you can see for sure that David is a really strong defender. I like to repeat to him that it is very important to have the right concentration.

“His role is a crucial role for us and he has performed very well, but I want him to perform well for the rest of the season.

“When we decided to buy him we were sure we were taking a really good player to work with and put as one of the best defenders in Europe.”