I inherited a tough job at Chelsea -Antonio Conte

The Blues made a strong start to the season by winning three and drawing one of their first four games, but were outplayed by their opponent, Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

Some of Conte’s players showed their age as the likes of Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic were particularly poor at the back and unable to deal with the pace of Liverpool’s attack.

This perhaps shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise after Chelsea finished as low as 10th last season and have kept much of the same squad that spent much of the 2015/16 campaign in the bottom of half of the table.

Conte admitted as much after the match, saying: ‘Every single game is very tough. We mustn’t forget last season. Last season was a bad season. I don’t want to repeat last season.

‘When you finish a season in 10th, there is something strange. It’s not simple. It means you have to work hard to improve.’

The early-season positivity at Chelsea seems to have been short-lived.