By Chelsea’s recent standards, Antonio Conte is reaching that point in his reign at Stamford Bridge where he will be considered ‘long-serving’.

The secret of Chelsea's success is hiring and sacking managers with rapid gunfire and the signals coming out of the club suggest they are readying themselves to pull the trigger again.

It would not surprise me – I have felt Conte will go since he made public his displeasure with transfer policy at the start of the season. But I think it would be a huge mistake if Chelsea do part company, regardless of the calibre of his replacement.

Not that they will be bothered. This is a club that sacked Jose Mourinho (twice) and Carlo Ancelotti shortly after title wins. Evidently Chelsea believe new coaches re-energise the club, a policy that has paid off spectacularly on several occasions. Coaches of the calibre of Diego Simeone and Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri are already being strongly linked with the Chelsea job.

But we should not ignore the fact there are also risks in regularly changing the coach, as we saw when Phil Scolari and Andre Villas-Boas failed.

For me, Conte remains the best man for Chelsea. His record since moving to Stamford Bridge is extraordinary. Despite Manchester City’s incredible run, Conte has won exactly the same number of Premier League points (140) as Pep Guardiola since his appointment. He has also won more Premier League games (44 out of 61) than any manager.