Ivanovic calls on Chelsea to start quickly and get back in the title race

Chelsea may have had their worst season of the Roman Abramovic era last year but defender Branislav Ivanovic insists the Blues are confident of bouncing straight back into a title race this time around.

The west London side open their campaign with a home game against West Ham United on Monday, in what will be new manager Antonio Conte’s first game in charge.

Chelsea suffered a post-title hangover last season as the former champions struggled in the early part of the campaign – which cost boss Jose Mourinho his job.

(Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

They limped to tenth under interim coach Guus Hiddink, but Ivanovic believes Conte has already made his mark and expects them to hit the ground running against the Hammers.

“There have been new things which we haven’t done a lot of before in previous years,” he said.

“With these small details and with these different training methods we can improve.

“A lot of things will change but I hope most of all, altogether we can change the results from last season.”

“For our confidence psychologically it’s very important to start the season well,” he stressed.

“If you can get points early you can then prepare with great spirit for the next game. The first couple of games are so important.

“We started with big enthusiasm for the new season because we changed the manager.

“There were a lot of new things at the beginning of pre-season, we have worked very hard to adapt and I think we are improving every session.”