Antonio Conte admits he has held discussions with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confessed that he has already held talks with club owner Roman Abramovich over the Blues’ poor run.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Hull City at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday, Conte admitted that Chelsea needed to improve and he has had conversations with Abramovich concerning as much.

‘Mr Abramovich is passionate about football and to talk to him about football is very interesting,’ said Conte.

‘To have a confrontation is very interesting – I like this.’

Conte clarified shortly after that he meant ‘conversation’ and not ‘confrontation.’ Was this just a slip of the tongue due to translation difficulties or could it have been an admission of something more sinister?

‘We haven’t the magic wand and to change the situation in one, two, three months. We must work hard together and we are doing this,’ Conte added.

Abramovich has a reputation for brutally sacking managers and has overseen no less than ten managerial changes in his 11 years at the helm.

Chelsea go into Saturday’s clash with Hull on the back of two Premier League defeats to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal at the Emirates, with defenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill under intense pressure for their respective performances.

With John Terry ruled out by Conte on Friday, the Italian looks likely to be forced to stick with the same defence that struggled at Arsenal.