Posted on: 04:02 Sat, 27 May 2017

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte does not believe Saturday’s meeting with Arsenal in the FA Cup final will be Arsene Wenger’s last game as manager of the north London club.



Chelsea boss, Antonio Conte has labelled his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger
“one of the best managers in history” as they prepare to face off in the FA Cup Final.

Wenger heads into Saturday’s match under enormous pressure after Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League on the final day of the Premier League season.

Conte is under no such pressure, though he could join Wenger and compatriot Carlo Ancelotti as the only non-UK managers to have won the league and FA Cup double.

And the Italian spoke glowingly of Wenger’s achievements.

“When you stay for a long time at the same team – we’re talking about a great team, not a small team – we must consider him like one of the best managers in history. He won a lot.

“When you stay a lot for a long time in the same team, someone can forget this. But Arsene Wenger is, for sure, a really good manager for me.”

Winning the FA Cup could ease the pressure on Wenger, whose future will be finalised at a board meeting next week with his contract due to expire shortly after.

Though Wenger has insisted that the outcome of Saturday’s game will not affect his decision over whether to extend his two decade spell in North London defeating his London rivals would buy him valuable breathing space from an increasingly frustrated fan base.

But Conte is convinced that whoever emerges victorious at Wembley Wenger will be in charge at Arsenal next season.

“I know very well the history of Arsenal in the FA Cup, also with Arsene,” he added.

“They won a lot of trophies in this tournament. I never won this trophy. I think, for this reason, tomorrow could be a good possibility for me, for my team, to try and lift the trophy.

“But, for sure, I don’t trust that tomorrow will be the last game for Arsene. I think he deserves to work with Arsenal because he showed, in these 20 years, he is a good manager. He did a good job. Only this season they missed out on the Champions League.”