Antonio previews Bournemouth: "We have to be ready"

Antonio Conte expects a tough test at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday (3pm).

The Cherries saw an upturn in form following the departure of Scott Parker following a 9-0 loss to Liverpool and arrival of Gary O’Neil in a caretaker manager role – they were unbeaten in their next six matches, climbing from 17th up to eighth in the table, before losing against Southampton and West Ham.

We’ve also lost two straight after posting our best start to a Premier League season after 10 matches - both teams are, therefore, determined to get back to winning ways at the Vitality Stadium.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY on Friday, Antonio said: “I expect a tough game against a team that has the possibility of playing every five, six, seven days, they don’t play in Europe, for this reason, my expectation is for a tough game. We have to be ready.”

Asked in his press conference about the Cherries’ turn around in form, Antonio responded: “Sometimes you don't know what happens, because the last manager is a really good manager and they got promotion, they had a really fantastic path last season and, in this season, in the moment they changed the manager they started to get points, points and points. For this reason, it will be a difficult game tomorrow.”

This represents the ninth game of a run of 13 matches in 43 days that kicked-off after the September international break and takes us into the World Cup in mid-November.

Asked how the players were coping with the schedule, Antonio told us: “The problem has been that we’ve had the injuries. In the nine games, Kulusevski didn’t play, Richarlison was injured in the game against Everton. Then, also, Cuti Romero played many games at the limit, Pierre also arrived at the limit. The other players… fingers crossed. For sure, this is not a problem only for us. I’m not complaining, the schedule was clear, but when you play so many games in a short period, you need many players available.”

Antonio on SPURSPLAY