N'Golo Kante insists Chelsea are "well placed" to challenge for the Premier League title this term.
The Blues are into their second year with Frank Lampard as boss and have welcomed a host of new players.
Roman Abramovich has invested heavily in an effort to close the gap on the leaders with the likes of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz all arriving.
Chelsea have lost just once this season - at home to Liverpool early on.
But three wins in their last five has them nicely placed in the top four just three points off leaders Leicester.
Managers have come and gone during Kante's time at the club, as have several players, but the Frenchman feels as if things are falling into place in west London.
"The team has changed in recent years, the coach has been here for a year working together," Kante told TF1.
"I think we have signed a fair amount of new players and what we are trying to do is to maintain Chelsea’s standards, win titles and be at the top in England.
"We are well placed at the moment, I hope we will continue in this vein.
"And I hope that we will qualify for the Champions League as quickly as possible again."
Chelsea finished fourth last term following a year without qualifying for Europe's elite club competition.
Kante won the league title in his first season at Stamford Bridge, but the Blues have failed to mount a meaningful challenge since that success.
Lampard though appears to be quietly confident and admits he is trying to balance optimism whilst keeping his players on their toes.
He said: “(I am) trying to strike that right balance, because for me a high-performing group or team, it has to be a balance between being really positive but being slightly on edge.
“So it’s like, ‘how positive can I be where I don’t want to sound like I’m just trying to be a cheerleader here and not see that we’ve lost two games on the bounce.’"
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