Chelsea star Eden Hazard claims manager Antonio Conte improved him within a week of becoming Jose Mourinho's permanent replacement

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Eden Hazard has heaped praise on Chelsea boss Antonio Conte by claiming the Italian had improved him as a player within a week of replacing Jose Mourinho.

Hazard spent two seasons playing under Mourinho at Stamford Bridge before the Portuguese manager was sacked in December 2015.

He was replaced on an interim basis by Guus Hiddink before Conte took the reins to lead Chelsea to the Premier League title last season, and Hazard has hailed the Italian's immediate influence.

Eden Hazard claims he had improved within a week of working under Antonio Conte at Chelsea

The Italian led them to the Premier League title in his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge

'Even after a week I think I had progressed with him,' the Belgium international said.

'I think he's shown not just at Chelsea but also at Juve that he's a good coach and I think he has some good years ahead of him.'

Hazard is expected to make his first start of the season against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. 

Hazard is set to make his first start of the season this week after returning from an ankle injury

The forward, who has been out of action since the summer with an ankle injury, admitted that playing under Conte can be very demanding. But the Belgium international believes the hard work the Italian demands on the training ground brings obvious rewards on the pitch.

'There's a lot of tactics,' he continued. 'It's not always nice as a forward as you have to run, defend and everything, but at least at the weekend, you know exactly what to do, you can even close your eyes and play. That's good.

'We work a lot. It's not always easy in training, there are a lot of hours of training, but it bears fruit on the pitch. We play well, we won last year. You can see that that's the key to success: work.'