Chelsea have entered a new era under the management of Maurizio Sarri.

The reign of Antoine Conte started so promisingly with a record-breaking run to the Premier League title and although he won the FA Cup in his second season, his relationship with the board had broken down.

Disputes over transfers and a decline in results eventually saw the Italian sacked and replaced by his compatriot who achieved so much at Napoli across three seasons.

The 59-year-old said upon his arrival at Stamford Bridge: "‘I am very happy to be coming to Chelsea and the Premier League. It is an exciting new period in my career.

"I hope we can provide some entertaining football for our fans, and that we will be competing for trophies at the end of the season, which is what this club deserves."

Sarri takes over at Chelsea

Chelsea supporters are certainly excited to see 'Sarri-ball' in the Premier League and are hoping it will bring back the kind of entertaining football that faded away in Conte's final year in charge.

So far, Sarri has added Napoli midfielder Jorginho to his ranks, Robert Green was signed as a back-up goalkeeper and players such as Gonzalo Higuain and Daniele Rugani being linked.

Against the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, though, it's difficult to predict how Chelsea will fare next season and whether they'll regain their Champions League status.

Football Manager predicts

And while the fans themselves will continue to cast their own predictions, talkSPORT have used Football Manager 2018 to see how the Italian will get on in west London this season.

The game carries an in-depth database and uses a scientific approach to the game, making it one of the best ways to try and predict the 'beautiful game.'

In the case of Chelsea in 2018-19, it will give fans mixed feelings.

Transfers

Remarkably, Sarri decided against any further signings after his move for Jorginho and only sold Cristian Cuevas during the summer window. Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were amongst the players loaned out.

The Chelsea boss decided to splash the cash in January, though, and signed Fagner from this summer's Brazilian World Cup squad. Matheus covered for Willy Caballero's departure and former West Ham striker Enner Valencia was bizarrely brought in for £10 million.

(Images courtesy of talkSPORT)

Team

Sarri implemented the 4-3-3 formation he used at Napoli, rotating regularly between Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata as the lead striker.

Jorginho played behind Cesc Fabregas and N'Golo Kante in the midfield, while Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta made up the back four.

Surprisingly, Danny Drinkwater proved a regular rotation option and collected 28 appearances as Marco van Ginkel made a surprise breakthrough at the club.

Season overall 

Chelsea endured an agonising season in the end, finishing third in the Premier League behind Liverpool and Manchester United by 12 points. That's certainly a decent return but fans will be disappointed to hear Sarri didn't win any silverware in his first season.

The Blues crashed out of the FA Cup in the sixth round with a bitter home defeat to Burnley, while Arsenal eliminated them from both the League Cup quarter-finals and Europa League semi-finals.

Would a debut season like this be seen as a disaster? Certainly not.

That being said, it wouldn't fill supporters with confidence that Sarri is the right man for Chelsea and it would likely mean his second season would decide his future at the club.

Returning to the top four would certainly be a success but something that would have to be followed up by winning a trophy at the very least, although that's no guarantee.

Given the expectation around Chelsea right now, you can excuse fans for getting excited but Football Manager suggests they should chill out for the time being.