Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso says he and his team-mates are ready to make amends for a poor last season at Stamford Bridge.
Despite winning the FA Cup, the Blues finished fifth in the Premier League, meaning they will miss out on Champions League football next term for the second time in only three seasons.
The campaign was also shrouded by a number of high profile fall-outs between manager Antonio Conte and owner Roman Abramovich, with the Italian seemingly blaming the Russian for failing to provide him with the financial backing the make the club the success – despite having won the Premier League with mostly the same squad only the season before.
Conte’s future at Stamford Bridge remains up in the air, however Alonso – whop enjoyed a fine personal season last year – says he and the team remain focused solely on taking Chelsea back to the top.
“Now we want to get back to the top level in the league after a not very good year, and pre-season is an important stage of that,” he told the club website.
The Blues kick-off their pre-season with a tour of Australia later this month, where they will take on Perth Glory, before returning to Europe for fixtures against Inter Milan and Arsenal.
The countdown is well and truly on…👍
Don't miss out – grab your tickets for our huge clash with @ChelseaFC at @OptusStadium here: https://t.co/WaPhGI4Zi9#OneGlory pic.twitter.com/dl98PwXmY7— Perth Glory FC (@PerthGloryFC) July 3, 2018
And Alonso, who joined Chelsea in the summer of 2016, says he is looking forward to the trip down under and meet the Chelsea fans from the other side of the world.
“It’s always exciting to play in new places and I hope we get to see what the city has to offer,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to see our fans from the other side of the world. We feel their support throughout the year but we know they can’t always see us play.
“I have heard the stadium is really cool and maybe it won’t be as hot there as it has been in England! We hope to put on a good show for the fans. We have to take these games seriously.
“We have got two weeks to get ourselves into shape and prepare for it. The season starts now.”.