Olivier Giroud has been a Chelsea player for only a day but should be forgiven if he is already experiencing deja vu. Seeing his new team perform poorly and concede three sloppy goals on Wednesday was something he tasted during Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at Swansea just 24 hours earlier.

However, it is the increasing scrutiny around the head coach’s position that surely has a familiar ring to it.

Giroud witnessed Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger come under mounting pressure from frustrated supporters in recent years. Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte, whom the France international admits played a major role in convincing him to move to Stamford Bridge for £18m, is under similar strain.

The big difference is that he is being closely monitored by those with genuine power: the hierarchy, rather than the fanbase.

Significantly, there were no ‘Conte out’ banners in the stands as Chelsea succumbed to this humiliating defeat. Remarkably, many fans continued to chant ‘Antonio, Antonio’ even after Bournemouth’s third goal. But Conte’s chances of remaining in charge of Chelsea next season looked slim before this setback to their top-four hopes.

The club have begun compiling a wish-list of replacements in case the Italian leaves, with Luis Enrique at the top of it.

Despite rumours to the contrary, there did not seem to be a genuine possibility up until now that Conte would depart before the end of the season.

To most outsiders, such a notion is ridiculous. This is the same man who led the Blues to a very impressive title victory last May.

Chelsea are still fourth in the League, have a very winnable FA Cup fifth-round tie at home against Hull City and the exciting challenge of playing Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Conte clearly thinks there should be no speculation over his future or criticism of the job he is doing.

When asked after the Bournemouth defeat if he felt he was overachieving with the current squad, he replied emphatically: “Yes, yes. I think we are doing more.”

Conte’s view might raise an eyebrow or two in the boardroom, following such an abject display, and one glance at the history books suggests one can never say never as far as Chelsea sacking managers are concerned.

They have chosen to make a change in the dug-out during the course of the season before when things appear to be unravelling.

Jose Mourinho has been on the receiving end twice — in 2007 and 2015; Luis Felipe Scolari was fired nine years ago this month; Andre Villas-Boas went in March 2012 and two months later the club won the Champions League and FA Cup under Roberto di Matteo, who was shown the door himself in October the same year.

Chelsea’s recent form under Conte is not good. They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Arsenal, have failed to score in six of their past 16 matches and are now just two points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham in the table.

Understandably, Chelsea have so far given short shrift to talk that Conte will go in the summer, let alone now. But the 48-year-old Italian is not helping his cause. For example, despite Chelsea spending £50.5m on three players during the January transfer window, there was little sign of gratitude on Wednesday.

In a pre-match interview, he declared that the previous 24 hours, during which the Blues had signed Giroud and Emerson Palmieri, were “a disaster”.

Granted, the late nature of Chelsea’s business, which saw his only fit striker, Michy Batshuayi, leave on loan to Borussia Dortmund, left his side short of attacking options. But he knew all along there was a strong possibility that Batshuayi would be departing and yet it is believed Conte spent all his training sessions with the Belgium striker up front.

As Standard Sport revealed last week, Conte has maintained an intense training schedule despite having to navigate a more gruelling fixture list.

Is it any wonder then that Andreas Christensen has become the seventh different Chelsea player to suffer a hamstring injury during 2017-18?

The club have allowed a lot of talent to leave permanently or on loan since they won the League but they have still invested £250m on new arrivals.

However, Conte admits Chelsea should be worried about missing out on qualifying for the Champions League.

He said: “We are doing everything and I’m exploiting this squad at the maximum level. But if someone doesn’t agree about this, I have to accept the situation. I’m very relaxed about this. I know I’m doing a great job.”

At present, it is unlikely owner Roman Abramovich and his deputies agree.

Conte, meanwhile, faces an anxious wait to discover the severity of Christensen’s injury which forced the Dane off after 28 minutes.

Conte said: “I don’t know the extent of it. We must wait one day, two days, three days for a clinical examination.”

Emerson, who has made just two appearances for Roma this term because of a knee injury, underwent his first training session at Cobham yesterday and is in contention to be included in the squad to face Watford on Monday.

Giroud was expected to be put through his first drills with the club on Thursday.