‘We have a big fight in the Premier League, a big fight in the Champions League, with a big game coming up, and we still have the FA Cup as well. We want to do well in all three competitions and that’s as well why it’s important that we focus, respond and get our fans behind the team, because this is an important and very sensitive part of the season – and we have to respond to disappointment together.

‘It’s never over (the title race). We cannot behave like that. Even if you think it is, I don’t. We cannot even think like that.

Supporter disillusionment could yet be a factor in whether Wenger opts to stay at the club beyond this summer.

He addressed the issue of increasingly unhappy fans on Thursday, saying: ‘I think that in the football club it’s important that you have different opinions – yes, that always happens.

‘But what is important and what matter to us is not the opinions of people, what matters is the next result and how we respond to difficult situation. We fight with teams who have not invested much more than we have and this is a period where we have to stick together and focus and respond.’

Wenger confirmed that Mohamed Elneny is fit again and Hector Bellerin will have an assessment on Friday after suffering a concussion in the defeat at Chelsea last weekend.

Conte, asked on the BBC’s Premier League show if the Spaniard was likely to stay, said: ‘Yeah… Diego is a really important player. The situation is very clear, he is very happy to stay with us and fight for the title.’

Costa is his side’s leading goalscorer with 15 goals and is only one behind Romelu Lukaku, who leads the league’s goalscoring charts.

Costa is contracted until the summer of 2019 and Conte believes his star man will stay at the club at least until the end of this season

‘I think (he will stay for some time),’ Conte said. ‘I see him every day and his commitment and behaviour. He loves this club.’

But despite believing Costa will stay loyal to his club and the fans, the Chelsea boss said he does fear the growing attraction of China and their vast reserves of money.

He cited the example of Oscar’s £60million switch from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG.

‘It’s very difficult to manage these situations. £60million for Oscar, also a lot of money for the players,’ Conte said.

The 47-year-old is concerned that the sums being spoken about can only help to push football’s elite level further away from its roots.

‘I think it’s not the right way to pay a lot of money,’ he added.

‘The players to keep them in a club we must always have the right vision, the right vision, and stand the right way and not lose the right way because if we lose the right way it’s not a good example for the young players [and] for the people in general who have to work every day.’

The Blues travel to Burnley on Sunday afternoon. A 20th league win would take them to 62 points and potentially 12 points above second-placed Tottenham.

Conte hasn’t allowed himself a moment to switch off or begin to believe that the club’s sixth top division league title is wrapped up despite sending a message to their rivals.

Asked whether he thought the title race was over, he replied: ‘No, no. Now we are top of the table but this league is very tough.

‘For me now it’s very important to continue to push and to exploit this momentum but of course if you send the right signal it is very important.’

DIEGO COSTA’S CHELSEA CAREER

First joined: July 2014

Fee: £32million

Games: 103

Goals: 51

Assists: 21

Minutes per goal: 164

He paints a picture of a man who squeezed out every drop of his talent in a one-off attempt to do what he had never managed before in any series: beat his old karting pal over the course of a season.

By sacrifice, he raised himself to a level of intensity he could never hope to replicate.

One small example: ‘I stopped cycling in the summer to lose one kilo,’ he says. ‘The next race I was on pole in Suzuka by one hundredth of a second. One kilo is worth three hundredths per lap. So I was on pole thanks to losing my leg muscles. It got me the win. Those were the small details I went into.’

Now he sits in his seat, with the Med over his left shoulder, and declares himself ‘very relaxed’. He says: ‘Start wherever you want.’

Well, let’s start at the end of his career, with that momentous decision to quit aged 31, an upheaval that some observers thought he should have mulled over to be certain his mind was settled. Others said he should defend his title.

‘I can tell you this,’ he says. ‘My Formula One career book is closed with the most awesome ending I could have imagined. And I love books that end happily.

‘I am turning my life upside down, so it will be full of challenges. The underlying belief, however, is that it felt totally right. I am following my heart.

‘Now I am excited because of all the freedom I have. When I was racing I was in a hamster wheel, a good one, of course, and I am so thankful for everything it gave me. I wouldn’t do anything differently.

‘But to be the best in your sport you have to make a lot of compromises.

‘Now I look at my calendar for March and it’s totally white, blank from start to finish. I can decide to explore whatever I want to. It’s about spending more time with my family, which last year was a serious shortcoming.

‘It’s learning to play the guitar. You need to be in one place for a while to be with your teacher and get into a rhythm. That’s a ridiculous, small example. There are bigger things, too: I have received so much in my life: the world championship, my family. I’m exploring what I want to do. Maybe something with kids, 10-year-olds, an age where I can make a difference.’

His decision to retire had been percolating in his mind since that leg muscle-light Suzuka win, the one that put the title in his own hands. He spoke briefly to his wife, Vivian, about it before the final race. He says she would have supported him carrying on, but deep down favoured his coming home rather than risking his limbs further.

They spoke about it again on the night of his championship win. But it took all his courage to inform his team principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, calling him rather than sharing the news as they flew over from a sponsor event in the Far East.

When he told one of his closest friends, his mate replied: ‘Now I understand how my sister felt when Take That split.’ It was a good line, but did not help settle his nerves for the call he was relishing least, to father Keke.

Rosberg Snr is a friendly but no-nonsense Finn – world champion in 1982, when he would routinely step out of the car and light a cigarette.

He made multiple millions as a businessman post-career and guided young Nico into Formula One. He then stepped aside to give his son his own head soon after he had established himself at his first team, Williams, for whom he made his debut in 2006 with the fastest lap in Bahrain.

NICO ROSBERG IN F1

10 years in F1 

206 Grands Prix

30 pole positions

23 wins

12 place in the all-time win list

1 F1 World Championship