Antonio Conte fears he is locked in a fight to avoid becoming the third manager in a row to be sacked as a champion.

A difficult pre-season has taken its toll on Chelsea’s plans with injuries to key players and frustrations in the transfer market.

As the new campaign looms, the Italian feels there is still much work to do to avoid the fate which befell Jose Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri.

‘We know the next season will be tough,’ said Conte. ‘We want to avoid what happened in the previous season for Chelsea, two years ago, when the team finished in 10th place in the Premier League.

‘We want to try to avoid this and I want to try to avoid what happened two seasons ago.

‘Two coaches have been sacked from Chelsea and Leicester after winning the league and I want to avoid this and the players want to avoid the bad season they had with Mourinho.

‘We are working very well and we hope to find the best solution in the future. We have a lot of young players and if necessary we will have to try to put these players.’

Mourinho was fired in December 2015, seven months after winning the Premier League for the third time as Chelsea manager.

By Mail Sport