Antonio Conte admits that until last season he had never heard of N'Golo Kante. He knows all about him now, though, and the Chelsea manager is delighted by what he sees in his midfielder.

“I think he's a complete midfielder," Conte said of the 25-year-old signed from Leicester City in the summer, "not only a defensive midfielder. You can see in the last three games of the league, N'Golo could have scored three goals. Against Hull City, that rebounded off the post after a Diego Costa shot, against Leicester there was a deflection and then he scored against United.

“He's a player that always arrives in the box. It's fantastic. He has fantastic stamina, also good technique, good positioning, good personality. He's a very good player.

“He can play box to box, but I prefer to respect the position. I like when N'Golo goes to press. And with this 3-4-3 system I ask a lot to press, to go forward. This I think N'Golo is very good at. We are very pleased to have this player with us. He's a very good player for me.”

Kante and Chelsea meet Southampton on Sunday at St Mary’s and their opponents have only lost once in 10 games so the Italian knows his side must be on top of their game if they want to keep touch with the leaders at the top of table. Not that the manager is thinking of winning the league just yet.

“In this moment I prefer to reply that it's very difficult,” he said. “It's very difficult to tell now our target, because it's early and in these games, we had difficulty against Arsenal and Liverpool. For this reason it's important not to look at the table. It's important to understand this type of work we're doing now is good. We need to improve and to become a strong team. A bit of time in the future, yes, after I think eight, 10 [more] games, I can tell our target.

“Our ambition must be always to play to win every game. Always. It's important. I try to transfer this to my players in every moment, in every day, every week, in every game. We must be ambitious. But to be ambitious you must work a lot.”

Despite not wanting to set out a goal for the season the manager feels at home at Chelsea after three months in the job.

N'Golo Kante has slotted effortlessly into life at Stamford Bridge (Getty)

“When you arrive in a new club, you need a bit of time to understand, to breathe the new atmosphere and also to have a new relationship. For sure it's not easy. Because for me all of it is new now. The situation has improved a lot and now I feel well. I have a good feeling with the club, with the players, with the staff, with all the people who work in Chelsea. For me the people are very important for our success.

“Now I'm very happy for the work that we are doing. And I'm sure that if we continue in this way, we can have good satisfaction for our work. But I repeat: it's important now to be focused on the work during the training session, on the game, game by game and to try to improve in every game. And to be ambitious, to work for the maximum always. It's important. You can reach this or not, but it's important to work a lot with this target.”

Conte also admits that leaving John Terry out – if he does against Southampton – will not be an easy decision. But given that the team have kept three consecutive clean sheets in the league, it looks like the likely route for the Italian.

Terry is not guaranteed a first-team place under Conte (Getty)

“It is a difficult decision, but my decisions are always for the best of the team. In the last three games all the players that I called on played very well. I repeat: my decisions are only for the best for the team, for the club and to win.