Can Chelsea recover from defensive crisis?

When Arsene Wenger shook hands with Antonio Conte before Saturday's Premier League clash it was the 12th Chelsea manager he had welcomed to the Emirates during his 20 years in charge of the Gunners. Whether the Frenchman will be shaking hands with number 13 next season depends on how the next few months shape up for Conte.

The Blues are in a bad shape a little more than six weeks into the new season, Conte struggling to get his message across to a Chelsea side that lacks leaders as well as shape. Arsenal's 3-0 win on Saturday was their first league victory over their London rivals since 2011. In the five years since, it's been Chelsea who have boasted the big match players, men like John Terry, Petr Cech, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, whose experience was too much for Arsenal.

Drogba, Cech and Lampard have moved on, Terry is injured, and in their place are the likes of Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois. The result? A comfortable victory for Arsenal, who killed off the game in the first thirty minutes with goals from Alexis Sánchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil.

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According to the Daily Telegraph Conte accused his side at half-time of being 'spineless'. They played with more spirit in the second period but nonetheless the defeat leaves them eighth in the league, eight points behind leaders Manchester City. It's a sorry statistic, made even sorrier by the fact City have to juggle their Premier League campaign with the Champions League. Chelsea's failure last season to qualify for any European competition should have them fresher and more focused than City, Arsenal and Tottenham. But three wins from six matches tells its own tale.

When he was asked what else was said in the dressing room at half-time, Conte replied: "I prefer to keep my words private, because it’s right when I talk with my players to keep what I tell them."

But he confirmed he was "angry" and promised lessons would be learned from the defeat. "We had a bad performance together – me first, my staff second, and then the players. It is important to take this experience as an opportunity to understand that if we want to come back very soon, to fight for something important in England, it is important to improve... to show during the game how to be a great team and not only one on paper."

The Telegraph says the pressing problem Conte must address is "the lack of real leadership on the pitch, which is felt by the players". Once Chelsea went a goal down on 11 minutes the body language revealed a team that didn't have the self belief to fight back. The return of John Terry should restore some bullishness to the Blues, as well as some steel to their defence, but the Daily Mail says Conte knows that Terry alone will not transform Chelsea's fortunes. That's why the Italian is "ready to launch a ruthless defensive clear-out" with both Ivanovic and Gary Cahill - who was at fault for Arsenal’s first goal - likely to "be phased out" in the coming months.

The paper says Terry and David Luiz will be asked to bolster the back four until the New Year, whereupon Conte is going to embark on a January shopping spree by "signing a new full back and two centre backs"

In the meantime Conte must hope Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich doesn't lose patience with him the way he has his nine predecessors under his reign. "I don't sleep, sure," admitted the Italian. "I have to find the solution very, very soon."