LONDON -- Antonio Conte has confirmed that Chelsea will stick with their 3-4-3 formation for Saturday's clash with Manchester City, and says that he is prepared for the prospect of Pep Guardiola's team dominating possession.
Chelsea go into Saturday's match one point clear of City and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, having recorded seven straight wins since Conte's decision to switch to 3-4-3 in response to comprehensive defeats to rivals Liverpool and Arsenal in September.
The Blues' spectacular revival has turned this match into a clash of genuine title contenders, and Conte believes that it represents another good opportunity for his players to underline the progress they have made in his new system.
"Tomorrow is a really tough game," Conte said. "It's is a great test for us, for our formation, to continue this way. We know that it won't be easy because, tomorrow, we face a really great team, really great players, with a good idea of football.
"But also tomorrow we want to show we are working very well and are growing. I think it is another step to show us if something has changed compared to the start of the season."
Asked if he has any fresh injury worries ahead of Saturday's match, Conte replied: "We have to check the physical condition of one or two players and then will decide."
Pressed on who the players concerned are, he added: "No, I prefer to keep this secret."
Despite establishing themselves as two of Europe's most respected coaches, Conte and Guardiola have never faced each other in management and did so only once as players; a Serie A clash between Juventus and Brescia in April 2003 in which the Italian emerged a 2-1 winner.
"He was a fantastic midfielder," Conte said of Guardiola. "We had different characteristics. He was more of a pivot in front of the defensive line. Me, I was more offensive. With penetration. I think I ran more than him, but he thought more than me with the ball.
"I have great respect for him because Pep likes to study football, to find new solutions always, to give his team his idea. It's not easy to transfer these ideas to different teams a few times. But he's a fantastic manager doing fantastic work with Manchester City. When I see this team, I recognise his idea of football.
"I think he found a good situation in Manchester City because, at City, there are two people -- the sporting director and another person -- who worked with him at Barcelona. It's worked very quickly, putting his idea of football across. When I see Manchester City now, I see the type of football I like."
Guardiola teams in part are defined by their ability to dominate and control matches through possession, and Conte expects City to have more of the ball on Saturday -- but he insists there is more than one way to win the match.
"Every team has their own characteristics or ideas of football," Conte added. "All Guardiola's teams are about possession for many minutes, to find penetration, the ball between the lines, to find the one-v-ones on the flank.
"But I think that every single manager has his own idea of football. Very simply, my idea is more straight towards the goal, less possession than in this case. But there are a lot of ways to reach the win. For this reason, I always have great respect for every idea of different managers."