Chelsea

Antonio Conte "excited" about new Premier League season

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 12 August 2016

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is "excited" about the new season and hopes to restore his team's confidence following their disappointing 2015-16 campaign.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has said that he will look to restore the team's confidence following their disappointing 2015-16 campaign.

The Blues entered last season as defending champions, but lost nine of their opening 16 fixtures and ended up finishing in 10th place, 31 points off Leicester City.

Conte admitted that it would be a challenge to restore the club to their past glories, but backed his players to prove that last season was only a blip.

"I think that I'm not very relaxed, because it's the first time I have managed a new team in a new league in a new country. That's a fantastic challenge for me, also for my family. And for this reason I'm not very relaxed. I know that we are working very hard to be prepared for this new season. I know that we have to do a lot of work to improve, but we started and for this reason I'm very happy to start this fantastic experience," he told reporters.

"This is the best for me and I'm excited for this. We are working about a new ideal, a new philosophy for football. I'm trying to bring in my principles, my ideas. And I know that the players are the same as last season, but also I know that these players two years ago won the title. And it's important to find the right confidence.

"Because I think this team, this squad had lost a little the confidence for the past season, for last year. We are working also on this aspect, to play football, to play attractive football, to try to return very, very soon to fight for the right position for Chelsea."

Chelsea will begin their campaign against West Ham United on Monday night.