We deserved to lose against Man Utd, admits Conte

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has admitted that his side deserved to lose their Premier League clash against Manchester United as the latter "showed more desire, more ambition and more motivation".

On Sunday, a resurgent United put up an unexpected brilliant performance as they defeated Chelsea 2-0 to breathe new life into the title race at the Old Trafford.

United manager Jose Mourinho, who saw his side thrashed 4-0 at Chelsea in October and was branded "Judas" by fans of his old club during last month's FA Cup defeat at Stamford Bridge, played a gamble by resting 28-goal Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was available for selection.

However, Marcus Rashford, paired with Jesse Lingard up front, and put his side into the lead in the seventh minute of the game itself.

Mourinho's most crucial decision was however to employ Herrera as a man-marker on Eden Hazard and it proved to be right as the midfielder delivered by scoring in the 49th minute of the game to seal a 2-0 victory over the league leaders.

"They [United] showed more desire, more ambition, more motivation," the Guardian quoted Conte as saying.

"It is very simple and in this case the fault is with the coach. It means the coach was not able to transfer the right concentration, desire, ambition to win this game."

The Chelsea manager also admitted that Tottenham Hotspur were now "the best team" in the league, adding that his team, now have only a 50-50 chance of winning the title post their defeat at the Old Trafford.

"We have to think there are six finals from now until the end of the season. The league is open and we have a 50% [opportunity] to win the league. It will be good to finish on top of the table and, if so, it means we deserve this. Otherwise we must clap another team," the 47-year-old said.

The top two will now meet at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals next weekend in what would be a significant test of Chelsea's mettle.