Antonio Conte's second season at Chelsea has not been as fruitful as the first.

After suffering an awful start to his reign in England, the Italian emerged as one of the favourites to be the first Premier League manager to be sacked in the 2016/2017 season.

However, after reverting to a 5-at-the-back formation, he turned his and his side's fortunes around; eventually winning the Premier League title.

But, he has overseen a rocky campaign in his second season, which sees his side positioned in 5th, five points off the Champions League spots.

With his side struggling, and with Conte reportedly not happy with his role at Chelsea, it has been suggested that the Italian will not remain at the helm beyond the summer.

THE BIZARRE WAY CONTE COULD SAVE HIS JOB

With Conte's position seriously under threat, it has been believed that it is almost certain that he will lose his job if he fails to guide his side to a Champions League berth next season.

However, reports have suggested that that is not of primary importance to Roman Abramovich, and that he can keep his job by other means.

In fact, The Sun claim that Conte can keep his job if he stops moaning about his side's transfer activity.

It is believed that Abramovich wants to keep Conte as manager, but his whinging over spending, about having no money to compete with Manchester City and his consistent negative attitude in public has become 'wearing'.

A Stamford Bridge insider told the Sun: "Roman is not so trigger happy these days when it comes to firing managers.

"Champions League football is important but not a deal breaker. These days Roman wants to give his managers every opportunity.

"The stress point could be if Antonio starts complaining again. People are growing weary of it all."

CONTE COMPLAINED ABOUT CHELSEA'S AMBITION JUST LAST WEEK

The Italian has complained about Chelsea's supposed lack of ambition throughout this year, including during a press conference just last week.

Conte said, as per ESPN: "I have great ambition, but I don't have money to spend for Chelsea. The club knows very well what is my idea, what is my ambition. That is very clear. That ambition must always be the same.

"When you decide to work with this type of coach, you must understand that you take a coach with great ambition. Not a loser but a winner. You must understand this."

If Conte wants to prolong his stay at Stamford Bridge, it seems that he must stop antagonising the board with comments like these.