Antonio Conte Claims Chelsea Need More Luck With Referees Following Latest Red Card in Arsenal Draw

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has claimed his side need 'to be more lucky' with referees as defender David Luiz was shown a late red card in his side's 0-0 draw

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has claimed his side need 'to be more lucky' with referees as defender David Luiz was shown a late red card in his side's 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Sunday - a result which he admits was fair.

Luiz, who had already received a yellow card, became the fifth Chelsea player in eight games to be shown the exit door by the referee after his reckless lunge on Sead Kolasinac was shown a straight red card. However, Conte insists it should never have come to that as the Brazilian should have been awarded a free kick moments before.

GLYN KIRK/GettyImages

Despite a plethora of red cards being shown to his players in recent weeks, Conte downplayed any suggestions that his team are suffering from an increasing lack of discipline.

"You know very well that I don't like to comment on refereeing decisions," Conte said after the game, via ESPN. 

"It is in the past. Now the only thing I can say is it is very important to see what happened before the David Luiz tackle."

What Conte was referring to was the pressure applied by Alexis Sanchez on Luiz directly leading up to the defenders tackle on Kolasinac, to which he stated: "For sure, that was a foul. For sure. But, I repeat, the referee took this decision. If he stopped the play before, it wouldn't matter.

"Do you think we are becoming bad? For sure, it's strange, no? A strange situation. But in normal situations we have to improve. In tactical situations, physical situations, you need to try and improve. Also, you have to be more lucky in the future.

Shaun Botterill/GettyImages

"In the end, we'll try to pay more attention in the future. I hope, also, to be more lucky with the refereeing decisions -- for us, and also for the opponents. Sometimes [this season] the opponents deserved a red card but, instead, they carry on playing with 11 men."

After the tense battle with the Gunners, Conte did look to identify the positives from his side as he added: "I think the performance was a good performance. 

Conte doesn't often make mistakes but think he's made one today. Needed to play 3-5-1-1 with Bakayoko #cfc #chelsea

— Chloe 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@TheBlueLioness) September 17, 2017

"When you play this type of game, a massive game, you know very well anything can happen. We tried to win. Both teams tried to win, and created chances to score. I think, finally, it was a good draw.

"We started the game very well in the first 20 minutes, and then we suffered a bit in the middle of the first half."

Luiz will now serve a three-match ban which includes the League Cup tie against Nottingham Forest and Premier League clashes against Stoke and Manchester City.