We’re not Gunner ease up

with the heat, humidity and the schedule on their Asia tour. “Now it’s difficult to tell how far off we are,” said the Italian. “We have to continue to work.

“My players are very tired because they played three games in only seven days. With the temperature and humidity they will be tired. It’s important to rest and to come back to London and restart work.”

Conte brought on eight youngsters against Inter on Saturday and had to play £65million new boy Alvaro Morata (above) in a wide position because

Eden Hazard and Pedro are injured.

The Blues hierarchy are already working on a number of options to strengthen the squad in the wake of Conte’s repeated warnings, but it is understood he has lost out in the battle for Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches (above), 19.

He is believed to have chosen AC Milan, fearing Chelsea’s £40m capture of Tiemoue Bakayoko could see him trade the bench at Bayern for the bench at Stamford Bridge.

Despite his concerns, Conte has urged his players to treat the curtain-raiser as a chance to get their campaign off to a positive start.

He said: “It’s not a friendly game, it’s an official game and there is a trophy so for us it must be important.

“Every fixture has its own history. We must be able to fight and be able to win.”