Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has predicted a trophy laden future at Stamford Bridge under the management of Antonio Conte, highlighting the new boss' drive to succeed and the support he can count on from the whole squad.
The Nigerian Olympic bronze medallist even said that he has never seen anyone quiteso passionate about winning as the former Juventus and Italy coach.
"The manager knows what he wants, we are behind him, we support him as players and we have to go with him, so I think that everyone is looking forward to this season," Mikel explained to Goal.com.
"I can only see Chelsea winning trophies with this guy and hopefully we can achieve that."
Chelsea began the new campaign with three back to back wins and it quickly seemed as though Conte had managed to dispel the problems of last season that saw the then reigning champions limp to a 10th place finish.
However, that was followed by poorconsecutive defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal. But a victory against Hull in the subsequent game saw winning ways return and Mikel doesn't feel that a title run is at all out of the question despite the obvious competition.
"It is going to be a very interesting season with the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, everyone has spent a lot of money and it is going to be very difficult. We want to be, at the end of the season, on the top and, if we can win it, why not," he said.
On Conte's style, Mikel added, "In games I don't even need to say, you can see how passionate he is and how passionate he is about winning, it is just the passion he has for the game and the way he thinks that he can get his message across to the players on the pitch.
"Sometimes the manager needs to communicate with the players even when they are on the pitch, to do what he needs them to do. I have never seen anyone that passionate, but yes, he is very, very passionate about winning games."
To continue the discussion on Twitter follow @jamiespencer155
Visit www.facebook.com/jamiespencer155