Chelsea’s new manager, Maurizio Sarri, has admitted he expects problems in the early months of his time at the club.

Sarri has only been in office since early July, because of the drawn-out way predecessor Antonio Conte left the club.

The former Napoli boss takes the Blues to Huddersfield on Saturday, for their first game of the Premier League season.

Sarri says it could take another eight weeks for the players, to get properly used to the new ideas and tactics.

The Italian said on Friday: “We are not at the top of our potential. I hope to be at the top of the potential of the squad in one or two months, but I don’t know.

“I hope that the second part of the season will be very good with a lot of points. In the first part I expect some problems on the results. Maybe the performances in the first part of the season will not be in line with the potential of the squad.

“The board know this.

“Next year, I will try and change pre-season completely — if I can. I arrived in the middle of July, so the problem was there. I had to accept it completely, but for the future, it would be better to change.”