Chelsea manager Antonio Conte insists his team face a fight to finish in the top four of the Premier League (Picture: Getty)

Antonio Conte has outlined Chelsea’s target for the 2017-18 campaign after ruling them out of the Premier League title race.

The Blues won the league by seven points last term but have endured an indifferent start to the current season, already falling 14 points adrift of Manchester City.

Conte’s side have won ten of their 16 fixtures but have been unable to keep pace with Pep Guardiola’s City, who remain unbeaten, only dropping two points.

Conte admits his side are unlikely to defend the title and has warned his players they face a difficult task just to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League.

‘There’s a problem in this league,’ Conte said after Saturday’s shock defeat to West Ham. ‘There are six top teams and there are only four places for the Champions League and two places for the Europa League.

‘You have targets, also if Manchester City has many points over you, you have an important target to try to get into the top four and play in the Champions League.

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The Blues suffered a shock defeat at West Ham on Saturday (Picture: Getty)

‘Don’t forget, two years ago Chelsea missed this target, last season we didn’t play European games.’

Chelsea suffered their fourth league defeat of the season at the London Stadium on Saturday and Conte insisted his side needed to be more clinical in the final third.

‘We shot 19 times, but we didn’t score,’ he said. ‘For sure, we have to improve our finishing and be more clinical.

‘In the game against Atletico Madrid, the same thing happened because we created many chances. We scored, but it was an own goal. Against Swansea, we won only 1-0. Against Newcastle we won 3-1, but we created a lot of chances to score.

Chelsea 2017/18 Fixtures

Newcastle (A) - Sun May 13

‘This is for the whole team. If you remember against Atletico Madrid, Andreas Christensen had two chances to score and also we have to improve as the whole team in every situation.

‘We must learn to be more clinical then to rest and recover more energy because it is not simple to play every three days.’

Conte missed out on a host of targets last summer but remained coy over his plans for the January transfer window.

‘I think now this is not important because we have just started December and we must be focused on the games ahead,’ the former Italy boss said.

‘I repeat, I can give my opinion to my club and also I speak with my club. I can give my opinion, but the final decision is for the club.

‘It is right to be in this way. I think, honestly, that it is right to keep it secret if we have a conversation with the club.’

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