Antonio: 'International break came at right time for Irons'

There was much excitement among fans of the east London club when it was announced that Premier League-winning manager Manuel Pellegrini would be taking over the reigns at the club.

The ambition of this appointment was matched by the financial outlay in the transfer market, which saw the likes of Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson arrive for huge fees.

Despite that, the club have lost all of their matches in the Premier League so far but Michail Antonio thinks that a break from Premier League action for a week will do them a lot of good.

"International breaks can sometimes be a blessing and sometimes be a curse and right now, I'd say it's a blessing because it's given ourselves a chance to clear our minds after the first part of the season," Antonio told the club's website

"It's given us an opportunity to do some good work and get ready to make a fresh start. We've been working on shape and tactical stuff and tying things down.

"We've signed nine new players and it takes time to gel as you can see in the games, where we're passing balls where we think people should be and getting things a bit muddled up,

"'We need to learn more about each other and I do see it coming good"