Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff stunned Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 as Spain were left to rue converting just two of 20 break points in a four-hour 40-minute encounter at the Plaza de Toros bullring.

Nadal, 31, who marked his comeback on Friday after more than two months on the sidelines with a hip injury by seeing off Philipp Kohlscreiber in his opening singles match, now has to repeat his magic against Zverev, 11 years his junior.

Nadal is on a record run of 23 successive wins in the Davis Cup, having not lost since 2005.

Five-time champions Spain, meanwhile, have won 26 straight home ties, with their last defeat on Spanish soil against Brazil in 1999.

“I have complete faith in all my players, they’re all formidable,” said Spain captain Sergi Bruguera.

Despite the pressure, Nadal can look ahead to his meeting against Zverev with confidence as he boasts a 3-0 record over the beanpole German including their only meeting on clay in Monte Carlo last year.

Germany captain Michael Kohlmann hailed his doubles team.

“This is what the Davis Cup is all about. It was 50/50 in the end. We got a bit lucky but it feels great.”

In Genoa, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert put defending champions France 2-1 up against Italy with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win over Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli.

It took two-time major winners Mahut and Herbert just 1 hour 54 minutes to take revenge for a loss to the Italian duo in the 2015 Australian Open final.

Lucas Pouille, the world number 11, will have the chance to clinch a semi-final spot for France for the third time in four years when he faces Fognini in the first of Sunday’s reverse singles.

“Pierre-Hugues and Nico played the perfect match,” said France captain Yannick Noah.

“Now we are going to prepare Lucas to beat Fabio — we will give 150 percent for this match.”

The winner of the tie will face either Spain or Germany for a place in the final.

Croatia, the 2005 champions, are also one win away from the last-four after Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic defeated the Kazakh pair of Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

“We played together for the first time and that’s why we needed some time to find our game,” said Dodig.

On Sunday, world number three and former US Open champion Marin Cilic can wrap up the tie when he faces Mikhail Kukushkin, the world 92 in the first of the reverse singles.

Kukushkin stunned world number 28 Borna Coric in Friday’s singles.

In Nashville, John Isner and Sam Querrey lifted the United States into a 2-0 lead over last year’s runners-up Belgium on Friday as the 32-time champions attempt to reach the semis for the first time in six years.

Isner needed three hours and 14 minutes to dispose of world number 319 Joris de Loore 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, while world number 14 Querrey beat 110th ranked Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in a two-hour long second rubber.

Belgium, who are playing without world No. 10 David Goffin, don’t have a player ranked in the top 100 in their lineup.

On Saturday, Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock, both with top-30 doubles rankings, can wrap up the tie when they face Sander Gille, ranked 84, and number 98 Joran Vliegen.

Victory would have crowned City, who still hold a commanding 13-point lead over United, champions for a fifth time.

But a day after City manager Pep Guardiola claimed to have been offered the chance to sign Paul Pogba by the player’s agent, Pogba led United’s fightback by scoring twice in as many minutes before Chris Smalling completed an incredible comeback.

“My objective here was to get points and not spoil any celebrations,” said Mourinho. “The point is can we improve enough to catch them next season?”

United finished sixth, 24 points behind champions Chelsea, last season and Mourinho wants a similar level of improvement to tilt the balance of power in Manchester back in United’s favour.

“Next season we have to improve even more because this season we improved in relation to last season: more points, more victories, more goals scored, less goals conceded, better results against the top five teams.

“We improve at every level but it was not enough. That’s why I congratulate Man City because they are going to win the title, they deserve to win the title.”

Goals from captain Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan handed City a richly deserved half-time lead, but they were left to rue huge missed chances from Raheem Sterling to put the game beyond United at the break.

“In one month or one year we will see the game and think how did we lose it? But we lost it,” said Guardiola.

“For the fans it is hard, but maybe they are going to give more credit to winning the Premier League if we are able to win the Premier League.

“To see how tough it is when the people say since November ‘it is done’. It was a tough, tough fight to keep going every single weekend.”

Guardiola added more spice to an already hotly-anticipated clash when he claimed on Friday he had been offered the chance to buy Pogba two months ago by the player’s agent Mino Raiola.

Pogba has endured a desperately disappointing season having often been dropped by Mourinho for United’s biggest games.

But restored to his favourite position on the left of a midfield three, Pogba showed why he was the world’s most expensive player when United splashed out £89 million to bring him back to the club from Juventus in 2016 by hauling his side back into a game that looked lost at half-time.

“If they won they are champions, for all the fans it would be like death,” said Pogba.

“To lose against City and to see them celebrate, I couldn’t let that happen.

“After a second-half like this, we have to do that all the time. If we did we would be up there with City, and maybe even in front.”

Manchester United’s Chris Smalling(R) celebrates with his teammate Jesse Lingard.

– City prioritise Champions League –

Guardiola kept his pre-match promise to prioritise Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Liverpool with City needing to overturn a 3-0 first leg deficit.

Kevin de Bruyne, a leading candidate for player of the year awards, was left on the bench alongside Gabriel Jesus and City’s all-time top goalscorer Sergio Aguero.

City’s Abu-Dhabi owners have splashed an estimated 878 million euros over the past decade to assemble a squad that has tilted the balance of power in Manchester from red to blue.

Kompany was one of the Emiratis’ first purchases, and he was a fitting scorer on what seemed destined to be a historic day.

The Belgian outmuscled Smalling to power home Leroy Sane’s corner on 25 minutes.

Five minutes later City doubled their lead in a style that has characterised their season as Gundogan brilliantly turned onto Raheem Sterling’s pass before slotting into the far corner.

City should have been out of sight by half-time as Guardiola screamed in frustration after Sterling fired two glorious chances well over the bar.

Like the rest of his teammates, Pogba was overrun in the first 45 minutes, but came alive to slot home from Ander Herrera’s cushioned pass with his chest to get United back into the game eight minutes after the break.

That goal was the first Mourinho’s men had scored away from home against top-five opposition in the Premier League all season.

And they soon had two in two minutes when Alexis Sanchez picked out Pogba’s late run into the box and his header beat Ederson low to his right-hand side.

City’s Champions League hopes were likely ended by conceding three times in 19 minutes at Anfield in midweek.

And United took just 16 minutes to complete an incredible turnaround when Smalling capitalised on some slack City marking to turn home Sanchez’s free-kick.

Reed’s 5-under par 67 for a 14-under total of 202 through 54 holes was his third straight round in the 60s and more than enough to keep him atop the leaderboard in search of his first major title, even as McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm all posted 7-under par 65s.

“I think the biggest thing is just going out and playing golf, trying not to let the moment overwhelm me,” said Reed, who notched his first top-10 at a major last August at the PGA Championship.

“I feel like I’m hitting the ball well enough, I feel like I’m putting well enough. I just need to go out and play the game.”

Reed certainly did that, his four birdies including three in a row at the eighth, ninth and 10th after McIlroy had pitched in for eagle at the eighth to pull level.

McIlroy, who can complete a career Grand Slam with a first Masters win, was alone in second on 205 with Fowler third on 207 and world number three Rahm on 208 after a day when threatened thunderstorms failed to materialize.

Instead, intermittent showers only served to make Augusta’s treacherous greens a little more benign.

Famed for his unflinching play on US Ryder Cup match play teams, 27-year-old Reed threatened to make it a runaway with his eagles at 13 and 15, swelling his lead to as many as five shots.

He curled in a 14-foot eagle putt at the 13th, then saw his chip at 15 hit the green and race toward the hole, striking the pin and dropping in.

“It was breaking so hard to the left, I couldn’t tell if it was going to go in or if it was just going to burn edges,” Reed said. “It was right in the middle.”

– Rory rides his luck –

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, who started the day five shots off Reed’s halfway lead, started narrowing the gap with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth.

After an unlikely par at the fifth, where his shot from the fairway bunker caught the lip but kept travelling, he tapped in for birdie at the sixth before holing his sand wedge for eagle at the eighth.

A run of six straight pars included a save at the 13th, where he waded into the azalea bushes to hit his third shot.

And just when Reed was getting away, McIlroy added birdies at 15 and 18 — where he drained a 17-foot birdie putt after a lucky carom off a tree.

“A great day,” McIlroy said. “I rode my luck a little bit out there. You know, the chip-in on the eighth hole, finding my ball in the azaleas on 13.

“Then hitting the tree on 18 and coming back in the fairway and making a birdie from that — hopefully I don’t have to rely on it too much tomorrow.”

Although Reed and McIlroy are old Ryder Cup foes, both said they couldn’t afford to focus on each other on Sunday.

Fowler, also seeking a first major title, kick-started his round with an eagle at the par-5 second and added five more birdies in a bogey-free effort.

Spain’s Rahm, 23, also played without a bogey and was one stroke in front of former British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who carded a 70 for 209.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson posted a 68 to share sixth on 210 with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Australian Marc Leishman.

Fleetwood’s 66 included five straight birdies on the back nine while Leishman, who entered the day trailing Reed by two, had just one bogey in his 1-over 73.

– Frustration for Woods –

Four-time Masters winner Tiger Woods was left spinning his wheels on Moving Day.

The 14-time major champion, who insisted as he set out to close a 13-shot deficit on Saturday that he was looking for a “special weekend”, opened with back-to-back bogeys on the way to a 72.

Woods, back at Augusta for the first time in three years, hit 4-of-14 fairways but said his real problem continued to be poor iron play.

“It has been scratchy this week. I’m not getting it done. My swing is just off with my irons,” said Woods, who admitted he now had his sights set just on trying to get to even par for the tournament on Sunday.

Top seeds Thailand had to compete on their least favourite clay surface and it took its toll as Jirat Navasirisomboon was no match for Jeson Patrombon, who trounced him 6-2 6-2 in just 67 minutes.

“I already did what the captain told me but my opponent came up with a good game plan,” said the 21-year-old SEA Games men’s singles silver medalist. “Obviously he felt more comfortable with this surface than I did.  I gave him short balls from the backhand side and he took that opportunity to attack me.”

The Thais rebounded in the second singles as Thailand’s world No 433 Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, the only player in the tie to be ranked inside top 1,000, overpowered John Bryan Decasa Otico 6-3 6-4 in 70 minutes.

“Even though I won, I wish I could have served better again,” said Wishaya, who only arrived in Manila two days earlier after reporting for military draft.

“I will need to improve my serves in the rubber against Patrombon, whom I beat in the SEA Games last year. I know his game well and I’m confident I can beat him.”

Jirat Navasirisomboon

Thailand were also expected to win the third rubber, with doubles specialists Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana taking on the underdogs Fancis Casey Alcantara and Johnny Arcilla on Sunday.

Then Wishaya will take on Patrombon and Jirat will face Otico in the fifth rubber.

Thai captain Weerapat Dokmaiklee was confident his side would prevail eventually.

“We expected a draw on Saturday and we will close the deal after that,” he said.

“We have better a doubles team and the No 1 singles player. If they can approach the ball properly on clay, they should have no problem.”

The first nation to win three rubbers will move into the final against either Hong Kong or Lebanon in September to battle for promotion to Group I next year.

The Thai No 1 and current world No 29 seemed to sure to be heading home early after carding a seven-over-par 79, his worst ever Masters score, in the first round.

The omens were little better early on day two yesterday (Thailand time), as he carded two more bogeys to fall back to eight-over after ten holes, three strokes outside the projected cut at five-over.

But then the big guy hit his stride at last.

He had gone into the tournament promising his fans on Twitter: “The way I qualified for the Masters is amazing. Now I want to show the world an Asian can surprise and contend in a major.”

And he was true to his word.

First, he struck a magnificent second-shot approach at the 13th to within four feet of the hole and sank his putt for an eagle.

He grabbed another birdie at the 15th to reach his five-over target. Again his Masters seemed to be over as he carded a bogey at the par-three 16th.

He headed up the 18th needing a birdie to keep alive and sure enough, another fine approach gave him the chance he needed on the final green and he sank the clutch putt to walk off his best Masters score, a two-under 70, to make the cut for the second time since his debut in 2016.

He will have his work cut out to better his best Masters finish, tied for 15th two years ago, but he was delighted to still be in contention.

“What a great recovery day,” he posted to his Facebook page. “I made it for 70, right on the line, after starting with a 79. Let’s go low on the weekend.”

He said he’d been rewarded for a positive attitude and thanked his online fans.

“If you don’t stand back, there’s always a chance,” he added. “Thank you for all the cheers.”

Fallen by the wayside

While no one expects Kiradech to trouble the leaders over the weekend there are plenty of  big-name players who would happily swap places with him right now.

The cut was 5-over-par 149 and while 53 players advanced to the weekend, 11 former Masters champions missed the cut, including reigning champion Sergio Garcia, who didn’t stand a chance after losing eight shots to par in just one hole in the first round.

For the second consecutive year since winning the Masters Tournament, 2016 winner Danny Willett failed to make the cut at Augusta National.

Willett needed pars on Nos. 17 and 18 to qualify for the weekend, but the 30-year-old Englishman bogeyed both.

“It’s a bummer,” he said. “We were doing a lot of good work. I have a lot of good positives to take from the week and how we played but, yeah, things just didn’t quite fall into place today.”

Fourteen more were injured — including three critically — in the accident involving the Humboldt Broncos team bus, which was heading north for a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game against the Nipawin Hawks, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspector Ted Monroe had said at a news conference late Friday that there were “fatalities among the passengers on the bus” and “a number of serious injuries”.

“It is a significant accident, we had a tractor trailer and a bus collide,” Monroe told reporters, declining to go into further detail about the victims.

Police said the crash took place about 28 kilometers (18 miles) north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan as the bus was travelling on highway 35.

“This is much bigger than anyone can begin to imagine,” Broncos team president Kevin Garinger told the Canadian broadcaster CBC. “We are just in utter disbelief and shock at the loss that’s fallen upon us.”

The Broncos team is comprised of 24 players, all from Canada, with the youngest aged 16 and the oldest 21.

“It’s a horrible accident, my God,” said Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks hockey team. “It’s very, very bad.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his sadness at the tragic incident involving such young athletes.

“I cannot imagine what these parents are going through, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humboldt community and beyond,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter.

The Saskatchewan league is a feeder system for higher levels of hockey with many graduating to play at US and Canadian colleges and major junior league level, while some go on to the National Hockey League. Former NHL players like defenseman Chris Chelios, goaltender Ron Hextall, forward Rod Brind’Amour and hall of fame goaltender Glenn Hall all played in the SJHL.

Friday’s fatal smash brought back memories of a single vehicle bus crash in December 1986, also in Saskatchewan, that killed four members of the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos.

A memorial was placed on the side of the highway at the site of the crash, about four kilometers east of Swift Current.

The Swift Current Broncos expressed their condolences.

“Humboldt Broncos weighing heavy in our hearts and minds tonight,” the team said on Twitter.

Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy, who survived when the Swift Current bus skidded off the highway in snowy conditions, also sent a message of support.

“Sending all my thoughts and prayers to those impacted with the @HumboltBroncos bus crash,” Kennedy said.

Nadal, playing his first match since limping out of the Australian Open in January with a hip injury, beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in just over two and half hours in Valencia, stretching his winning streak in the Davis Cup to a record 23 matches in singles and doubles.

The victory for the world number one in the Plaza de Toros bullring levelled the tie after world number four Alexander Zverev beat 33rd-ranked David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

“Of course, it’s a positive thing to win in straight sets,” said 31-year-old Nadal, who has not lost a singles match in the Davis Cup since his 2004 debut and in doubles since 2005.

“I played a solid match. I feel good when I return to the clay courts.”

Nadal, building up to an assault on what he hopes will be an 11th French Open title, said it had been a special day playing on home ground again.

“It’s a memorable day, in front of my own crowd. It’s always special to play in these arenas,” added Nadal, who has played in four of Spain’s five Davis Cup-winning teams.

“It’s great to be back even if after an injury it’s always difficult.”

On Saturday, Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez will face Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff in the doubles, paving the way for a potential tie-deciding clash between Nadal and 20-year-old Zverev on Sunday.

Spain have history on their side — they have won 26 straight home ties, with their last defeat on Spanish soil coming against Brazil in 1999.

The winner of the Valencia quarter-final will face either defending champions France or Italy for a place in the final.

– 35th win for Cilic –

Lucas Pouille, the world number 11, gave France the first point in Genoa with a 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1 win over 62nd-ranked Andreas Seppi.

Italian number one Fabio Fognini then won a bad-tempered 3hr 30min rubber against world number 80 Jeremy Chardy 6-7 (6/8), 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to make the tie 1-1.

Fognini, who spent over 11 hours on court in the victory over Japan in the first round, was furious after Chardy had brushed his shoulder against him during a changeover early in the third set.

“I didn’t even know if I really touched him on the shoulder. He made this a huge thing, like in football sometimes where the guy you don’t touch still collapses,” said Chardy.

Chardy, a surprise selection ahead of Adrian Mannarino, the world 25, suffered his first Davis Cup defeat in six matches.

On Saturday, France’s Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert will face Fognini and Simone Bolelli in the doubles.

“I am ready to play three days, for sure,” said Fognini who has played for Italy every year since 2008.

“The Davis Cup is special. I am playing not just for me but also for Italy.”

Croatia, the 2005 champions, got off to a winning start against Kazakhstan in Varazdin when world number three Marin Cilic outclassed Dmitry Popko, the world 258, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.

The victory was Cilic’s 35th in Davis Cup, just one short of Ivan Ljubicic’s Croatian record of 36.

But Mikhail Kukushkin, the top-ranked Kazakh player at 92, then levelled the tie by seeing off world 28 Borna Coric, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2

In Nashville, 32-time champions the United States will hope Miami champion John Isner, now at nine in the world, can take them into the semi-finals for the first time in six years.

The US tackle last year’s runners-up Belgium who are without world number 10 David Goffin after he suffered a freak eye injury in Rotterdam in February.

While the Americans can boast Isner, 14th-ranked Sam Querrey as well as number 16 Jack Sock, the luckless Belgians will pin hopes on Ruben Bemelmans, the world 110 and 319th-ranked Joris de Loore.

The winner of that tie will face either Croatia or Kazakhstan in the semi-finals.

The British star had wound up fourth fastest earlier in Friday’s second free practice session at the Bahrain International Circuit.

“@LewisHamilton will take a five-place grid penalty for the #BahrainGP after having to change his gearbox,” tweeted Mercedes.

Kimi Raikkonen was fastest as he and Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel dominated the session ahead of the two Mercedes, headed by Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton’s setback in his bid to overhaul Vettel’s early-season lead in the title race –- following his victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix –- was confirmed by the International Motoring Federation (FIA), the sport’s ruling body.

Bottas also had a new gearbox fitted on Friday evening, but escaped a grid penalty because he had already been penalised in Australia.

Four-time world champion Hamilton, who created a minor controversy when he showed his approval on social media earlier in the day of the retention of grid girls at the Monaco Grand Prix, said before his penalty had been announced that it had been “a normal Friday”.

“It’s very close and we have some work to do. The tyres feel the best they have here in years, very stable with less degradation.”

Mercedes technical director James Allison said after Friday practice that the team were not as competitive in relation to Ferrari as they had been in Melbourne.

“It wasn’t our best day,” he said. “We’ve got more to do overnight and in the practice tomorrow (Saturday) to five us a car that can fight in qualifying and on Sunday.

“The base for us is ok, but we don’t have the edge we had in Melbourne.”

Raikkonen had escaped a grid penalty of his own as he clocked a best lap time of one minute and 29.817 seconds to outpace four-time champion Vettel by 0.011 seconds.

Raikkonen, however, faced a post-race investigation into a possible unsafe release of his car, by Ferrari, following a routine pit-stop late in the session.

He pulled away, but then saw his pit crew waving their arms and pulled up at the side of the track.

It was feared he would be punished for an unsafe release -– because his front right wheel was not attached properly –- and given a grid penalty, but instead Ferrari were fined 5,000 euros.

The race stewards said they felt Ferrari had done all they could to minimise the risk of the wheel coming off the car.

Bottas was happy to bounce back after his confidence-sapping crash in qualifying in Australia two weeks ago.

He said: “There is always pressure and I am treating this like a normal weekend. Here the track improves all the time, with more grip every lap.

“The car felt ok, but we need to find some more pace especially on a single lap.”

Dutchman Max Verstappen, who missed the first session due to a power failure, was fifth for Red Bull ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Verstappen said: “We had a small issue this morning — these things happen so it doesn’t concern me too much.

“I lost a lot of track time, but come race day it will depend a lot on strategy.”

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly and the two McLarens of two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

Saturday’s eagerly awaited meeting at City’s Etihad Stadium offers Pep Guardiola the chance to make mathematically certain of the Premier League crown with a victory.

It is a prospect that has left United supporters with a sense of dread as their bitter rivals prepare to lift English football’s greatest prize.

During his press conference on Friday, Mourinho reminded fans of the day, a dozen years ago, when he led Chelsea to a victory over United to win the title and claimed that the potential title decider is “just football”.

“We beat United 3-0 and we won the title at Stamford Bridge in 2005-06. But it was not the end of the world, Manchester United didn’t finish. It was just football.

“The only thing I can say is that we want to win, we don’t want to offer them the game. We want to go there and want to compete and win the match if possible. That’s the only thing I can say.

“It is normal that you want to delay the champions becoming champions. We would like to beat them, we would like Spurs to beat them next week, we would like them to be champions as late as possible.”

Mourinho was in a downbeat mood on the eve of his latest meeting with his old rival Guardiola and refused to discuss a number of topics.

– Mourinho success –

As in keeping with recent weeks, he was quick to emphasise his own historical successes in the Premier League and the improvement United have shown in their league form during the current campaign.

But with City on course to break numerous records in Guardiola’s second season in charge, their status as one of the best teams of the modern era was something Mourinho could not refute.

“I think they are going to beat Chelsea’s total from 2004-05 and that does not make it easy for the teams coming behind them, even for teams with positive seasons and with a positive number of points and with significant improvement on the previous season,” he said.

“In our case I think we have eight points more than last season, more goals scored, less goals conceded, but Manchester City made it impossible for the others.”

Mourinho conceded that City’s advantage over his side — which will stretch to 19 points should they win the derby — is fully deserved.

“It is always a fair reflection,” he said. “Sometimes you know you have one team that was unlucky with injuries, another who was lucky because they had no injuries and no suspensions, another one had a few more points because some referee mistakes gave them a few more points.

“But I don’t go in this direction because it belongs to the season. Every team in the course of the season had some injuries, has someone suspended, had referees’ mistakes that helped or punished you.

“But in the end what matters is what happens in the reality of the points and City will be champions because they deserve to be champions.”

Blues boss Conte has cut a frustrated figure from the moment he sagely warned of a difficult season in store during Chelsea’s pre-season tour.

Irritated by the failure of Chelsea’s hierarchy to land his top transfer targets and driven to distraction by his public feud with Diego Costa — the striker he cast into exile before selling him to Atletico Madrid — Conte wasted no opportunity to make it clear there was trouble ahead.

The former Juventus coach was proved correct as Chelsea have laboured so badly that they go into Sunday’s London derby against West Ham on the brink of missing out on a top four finish.

Last weekend’s defeat against fourth placed Tottenham left fifth placed Chelsea eight points adrift of the positions that bring qualification for next season’s Champions League.

With only seven games remaining, Conte’s two-year reign at Stamford Bridge looks set to finish with his departure at the end of the season, with widespread reports Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is considering moves for ex-Barcelona boss Luis Enrique and Juventus chief Max Allegri.

Gianluca Vialli, a former Chelsea manager and Juventus team-mate of Conte’s, claims his old friend can’t wait to leave the west London club after growing tired of his lack of influence on the squad’s make-up.

But Conte has repeatedly refused to be drawn on talk of his future and, asked about Vialli’s comments on Friday, he said: “It is not true. Gianluca is a friend but I’m not talking with him for one year, maybe.

“It’s very difficult for me but since this season I’m listening to a lot of speculation about my future, but the only truth is I am committed for this club.

“I have a contract for this club, I’m working very hard for this club.

“This is the only truth. The other speculation is not true.”

Chelsea have managed just five wins out of 19 in all competitions since the turn of the year, sparking fresh rumours that Conte’s intense personality and demanding training style have lost him the support of several key players.

Their lacklustre performance in Chelsea’s first home defeat to Tottenham for 28 years hardly erased that impression.

“For sure we must be realistic. This defeat was a bad defeat for us. We had the opportunity to reduce the gap to Tottenham,” said Conte.

“We have to try to do everything to try to continue, to fight for a top-four place. It won’t be easy. We have to try to give all ourselves.

“We must show pride, desire, a will to fight until the end this season. This must be our target now.”

West Ham are five points above the relegation zone following last weekend’s crucial win over Southampton.

David Moyes’ side beat Chelsea earlier this season and the Hammers boss is eyeing a repeat.

“We haven’t got enough points to be safe yet,” he said.

“It was a really big win for us (against Chelsea), for the team, for the club, it gave us all a boost.

“I hope lightning can strike twice and we can do it again.”