Antonio Conte takes first Chelsea training session at Cobham

A “very vocal” Antonio Conte took charge of his first training session as Chelsea manager on Wednesday after arriving in London to begin work in his new role.

The 46-year-old was pictured touching down in the capital on Tuesday evening before he made his way to Chelsea’s training base in Cobham the following morning to put his players through their paces.

After a light jogging session, the Chelsea squad were split into two groups to work on their passing, look at their patterns of play and improve their ability to keep the ball – with Conte heavily involved.

According to Chelsea’s official website, Conte was “very vocal” throughout the training session as he handed his players advice before ending the session.

Antonio Conte taking his first training session at Cobham earlier today

Conte will officially be unveiled to the media at Stamford Bridge on Thursday before he takes charge of his first match in Chelsea’s pre-season friendly against Rapid Vienna at the Allianz Stadion on Saturday evening.

The 46-year-old, who steered Italy to a quarter-final place at the European Championships in France this summer, will then have to lead Chelsea through further pre-season games against RZ Pellets, Liverpool, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

The Blues kick-start the new campaign with a tricky home game against London rivals West Ham, which Conte will hope he can win to avoid seeing Chelsea suffer a poor start to the season, which proved to be Jose Mourinho’s downfall last term