Michy Batshuayi should “stay close” to Diego Costa – the man he will fill in for today – to improve according to his manager Antonio Conte.
The Belgian arrived in the summer for £33 million from Marseille but has had to play second fiddle to Costa who currently tops the Premier League scoring charts with 13.
Conte has urged his summer acquisition, who he believes can “improve a lot”, to learn from Costa despite acknowledging that he is a different player to the Spaniard.
The Chelsea boss said: “I think every single player, every forward, is different for characteristics. Because the players are different. Michy is different if you compare him to Diego. Above all because, first of all, he's a younger player.
“He can improve a lot. For sure, to stay close to Diego, you can learn a lot to improve your experience and improve your skills. But, for sure, to have the training sessions with great players improves you.”
The Italian also praised the patience of Batshuayi claiming he has a fantastic attitude and behaviour. He accepts that being behind Costa in the pecking order is not easy but remained certain that the Belgian’s “moment will arrive.”
He added: “Yes, Michy's attitude, his behaviour, have been fantastic. He wants to improve his quality. Technical quality, physical quality. We are working a lot with him on tactical aspects. Yes, but he's showing great commitment, great work-rate during the training sessions, great passion.
“For sure, he wants to play and it's not easy when you have in front of you Costa. Above all this Costa, who is playing fantastic football and scoring a lot of goals. But I repeat: it's important for Michy to continue to work, to continue to improve. I'm sure his moment will arrive.”
That moment looks set to come at 3:00 today in west London when the Blues aim to break a club record by recording a 12th successive victory to open up a nine-point cushion at the summit with their nearest challengers Liverpool not playing until tomorrow when they host Stoke City.
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