Arsene Wenger's 'naive' Arsenal players ran straight into Antonio Conte's trap, says Pat Nevin

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Sam Long7 February 2017

Arsenal ran straight into Antonio Conte's "trap" during their 3-1 defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, according to Pat Nevin.

The Gunners started well but fell behind to Marcos Alonso's opening goal before Eden Hazard doubled the advantage with a superb solo strike.

Substitute Cesc Fabregas put the game to bed late on and Olivier Giroud's header proved to be little more than a consolation as the Blues extended their advantage at the top of the table.

Arsene Wenger's side struggled to get to grips with Conte's preferred 3-4-3 formation and Nevin is adamant the visitors played straight into their hosts' hands.

"They got a bit excited by the fact that because Chelsea were playing from the back," Nevin told Chelsea's official website.

"It gave them a couple of little sniffs, but they were running straight into a trap set by Antonio.

"Usually when we [Chelsea] play at the Bridge teams sit back and there is no space for our own attackers to run into. If you can entice the opposition out a bit then maybe they will creep forward.

Chelsea's new £500m Stamford Bridge stadium redevelopment

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"To be fair, Arsenal had to win this game so they were keen to get control, but leaving half of Stamford Bridge free for our players to attack seemed to be bordering on naive," he added.

Chelsea boast a nine-point lead at the top of the table and, with just 14 games left to play, are in a commanding position.

Conte has opted not to tweak his starting line up significantly in recent weeks but Nevin is adamant the Italian has more than enough options at his disposal to keep his team fresh during the run in.

"The back-up is phenomenal. Indeed it is almost offensive to call the likes of Cesc, Willian, Pedro and JT back-up players when they don’t start.

"Cesc is playing some of the best football he has ever played but can’t get a start every week," Nevin added.

Chelsea travel to Burnley this weekend but Clarets defender Michael Keane has warned the league leaders that they will face a tough game at Turf Moor.

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