West Ham boss Slaven Bilic believes Antonio Conte will be a success as Chelsea manager.
The Blues will begin the new season – and Conte’s reign as boss – against Bilic’s side in a London derby at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
“I rate him very highly,” said Bilic, whose team finished seventh last season – three places above Chelsea.
“Antonio Conte is a great manager and wants to change the way they approach the game and the principles. We expect a tough game against Chelsea.
“But we are excited about the first game. We have had a good pre-season and have a good squad.”
Hammers trio Cheikhou Kouyate, Pedro Obiang and Darren Randolph have been nursing minor injuries but trained on Wednesday and are expected to be available for next week’s match.
This post was last modified on 11/08/2016