Antonio Conte urges his Chelsea players to take revenge on Arsenal for last season's surprise FA Cup defeat

Antonio Conte hopes his Chelsea team can respond to their FA Cup final frustration in the best possible way, and with 11 men on the pitch, when they host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea were denied the double when they lost the cup final 2-1 at Wembley, and then surprisingly lost the Community Shield on penalties before this season started. In both games they had a man sent off, which Conte made pointed reference to at his Friday afternoon press conference.

Conte hinted that he thinks his team would have won with 11 men, and he is hoping for a better result this afternoon.

“I hope to finish the game with 11 players,” Conte said.

“Because in the last two games, the FA Cup final and the Community Shield, we finished both games with 10 men. I hope for this. Then, during the game, I think that the best team will win.” In the cup final Victor Moses was given a second yellow card for a dive in the penalty area, while Pedro was sent off in the Community Shield for fouling Mohamed Elneny.

Conte still has an issue with Alexis Sanchez’s opening goal in the cup final, which could easily have been disallowed for either handball or offside.

“You know very well that in a single game anything can happen,” he said.

“I remember very well that game, we were also a bit unlucky. If you remember the first goal was very strange, I am sure that this goal [should have been] disallowed instead. We tried to change the game, then a red card, with 10 men we drew, but then we concede another goal. When you lose there is always disappointment, but I think last season was a great season for us.”

Sunday is an opportunity to atone for those defeats, and Conte was emboldened by the attitude of his players, who recovered from a shock 3-0 defeat to Burnley on the opening day of the season to return to their title-wining form from last season.

“I always see a good mentality from my players,” Conte said.

“When there is a defeat, remember after a bad start to the season, the Burnley defeat, I had a good answer from my players. This showed great mentality.”

The only slight issue for Chelsea is that Conte is losing his voice. Air conditioning systems can irritate his throat and he has been taking antibiotics since Thursday to try to address it. “I hope to solve the situation,” he said, “otherwise it will be a problem for me.”