FA Community Shield 2018: 5 talking points on Chelsea's performance

#2 Expect Chelsea to hit peak form by Midseason

The fans will have to get behind Sarri and give him time

Patience would be something that everyone associated with Chelsea- hierarchy, playing staff, coaching staff and fans need to have in order to oversee a transition to a new phase in the club's history.

Sarri needs time to fully implement his ideas with the squad and with his first season in England, expect this season to be more of a learning curve for the Italian.

The best form of Chelsea this season will be seen midway through the season when the players will finally be familiar with their roles and the fixtures would come in full swing. Sarri has only had less than a month to work with the players before the season starts and due to the world cup, the complete squad only reports by August 7 with world cup winners Ngolo Kante and Olivier Giroud reporting back to duty.

Hazard and Kante especially are players who would be the first names on the teamsheet and they will take time to get acclimatized to the football this season both physically and tactically.

It is only with the above mentioned two players that Chelsea can be considered at full strength and players will definitely need a settling in period before they hit full throttle.

Maurizio Sarri will hope his squad gets up to speed as quickly as possible as even a minor slip up can ruin the team's chances in the Premier League this season.

The margin for error is smaller than ever and Chelsea will need to grind out victories so that they remain in place for finishing at least inside the top four.