Conte eager to avoid a repeat of Mourinho season

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.

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

‘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 season they had with Mourinho.’

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

Ranieri led Leicester to the first title in their history but that did not spare him the sack as they slipped towards the relegation zone last term.

‘Antonio has to think about whether he wants to be champion this year,’ quipped Mourinho back in February.

Ranieri and Mourinho would reflect with hindsight on problems which had been rooted in pre-season.

Transfer targets such as Romelu Lukaku and Kyle Walker have slipped away from Conte (pictured) this summer while Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic were told they could leave. Tiemoue Bakayoko did sign but arrived injured and will miss the start of the campaign, as will Eden Hazard, who broke an ankle on international duty. Pedro Rodriguez was sent home from the tour after suffering facial fractures in a friendly against Arsenal.

With several young players sold and loaned and John Terry released, Conte’s options are suddenly limited and he has used roughly the same team in three friendlies on tour in venues where the heat has been stifling.

‘We are very tired,’ said the Chelsea manager.

Against Inter Milan yesterday, Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, a £32m defender, made his debut in a 2-1 defeat, when the Blues were helped back into the game by a spectacular own goal, as Inter sub Geoffrey Kondogbia fired into the top corner from 40 yards.