Tonight Chelsea will face Malmo in the first leg of Europa League‘s last 32.
Here are the confirmed lineups:
Malmo: Antonsson, Bachirou, Bengtsson, Dahlin, Nielsen, Rieks, Ronseberg, Safari, Traustason, Vindheim.
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson, Jorginho, Kovacic, Barkley, Willian, Giroud, Pedro
Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Kante, Hudson-Odoi, Zappacosta, Hazard
Spanish attacker Pedro explained Chelsea can implement Maurizio Sarri‘s ideas of football, even if sometimes this can be difficult and tricky.
“All the team follows the idea of Maurizio: press really high, stay compact, and to create chances. With good possession, a lot of the ball. We can do this as a team,” Pedro explained. “But sometimes it’s so difficult to play in this way. It depends upon the opponents. City played very well, so it was so difficult to press, to create between the lines and to defend. But it’s Maurizio’s idea, and I prefer to press high when we recover the ball to create chances, not to wait for 90 minutes to recover the ball and run 60 metres to score the goal”.
Today’s match vs Malmoe in the first leg of Europa League‘s last 32, can be a good chance for the team to improve under this aspect: “In the last few games it’s not been in very good condition for the results. Now is a good opportunity tomorrow to win and get our best confidence. It’s not good for [Sarri] and the team because the results have not been good, but it’s good for us to change this dynamic now.” Pedro went on. “It’s good for us going into the final against City, the FA Cup against United. In the league, it’s difficult for us to hit our targets, but we’re still in four competitions. That’s good for us. It’s too early to analyse the season. We do that at the end of the season. Malmo is a good opportunity.”
After Chelsea‘s heaviest Premier League defeat, Blues midfielder N’Golo Kante tried to find the reasons of Sunday’s tremendous loss with Manchester City.
“It’s difficult to explain,’” Kante told Chelsea official website. “They outclassed us. It was a collective failing. They outclassed us from the first minute to the last minute, and they made the difference in the first minutes of the first half. It was very difficult to come back from that”.
All the Blues players, however have to react and the busy schedule of the next few weeks can help them to do so: “It’s a great disappointment and we have to react. It’s difficult to accept such a heavy defeat, but we have a lot of matches coming up to lift our heads and give us hope for good results at the end of this season”. the French midfielder went on. “We all have disappointment etched across our faces, but we`ve got a lot to learn from this, and hopefully we will not repeat the same mistakes in the future.”
Speaking during his pre-game press conference, Maurizio Sarri explained how his team can beat Manchester City on Sunday, as they did some weeks ago at Stamford Bridge.
“I think that we were lucky because we scored in a very difficult moment of the match. Maybe we deserved to win in the second half, but we were lucky in the first as we scored in a difficult moment. In that match we defended really very well as they had only three goal opportunities, no more”. Sarri said. “It is not easy against City to give them three or four opportunities. They had scored 43 goals in 15 matches, so it is difficult and we need to defend well. We need to be very fast when we are able to recover the ball. They are able to press really very well so it is difficult to exit that situation. If we can do that then we can do well”.
The good news is that all Chelsea’s players will be available for Etihad Stadium’s game: “We have only some little problems with Odoi, he had fever for one day. Yesterday we had a little problem with Cahill, his back, but nothing serious”. Sarri revealed. “I think every player will be available. I hope so. We have to do another two trainings”.
Whatever will be the result of Sunday’s match, however, Sarri is aware that there is still a big gap between Chelsea and Manchester City: “I think we can fight for the top four this season, no more”. the Italian claimed. “We can win something, of course, but Premier League there is fighting between Manchester City and Liverpool. I think City are the best team in Europe, it is difficult to win the Champions League. I think that we need to work. You are the most competitive in the market or you need to work, I don’t know another way. We need to reduce the gap”.
Chelsea and Manchester City will play the Carabao Cup final at Wembley at the end of February.
Before that, the two teams will play their Premier League game on Sunday at Etihad Stadium and, according to Pep Guardiola, also this game will be like a final: “This is a real final for us this weekend. If we are able to take these points, we are going to take a huge step forward.” Guardiola told reporters on Wednesday night in his post-game press conference after Manchester City win vs Everton.
Guardiola is also aware Maurizio Sarri‘s side is very strong and Chelsea are having more time to prepare the game: “We started well with Arsenal and Everton but now comes a really, really big test — a big bull,” Guardiola explained. “Chelsea is an exceptional team with seven days to prepare that game. We will try. We have to prepare well”.
These can be crucial days for Eden Hazard‘s future: speaking with RMC Sport, the Chelsea‘s star has explained he knows what will be the next step in his career.
“I have made a decision.” Hazard said during an interview and, as it is understood, Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri already know what this decision is.
Moreover, French outlet LaVdn have suggested they will release an interview tomorrow night during which Hazard will reveal his plans.
Maurizio Sarri has made two notable additions to Chelsea‘s squad for the Europa League knock-out stages: Gonzalo Higuain and Danny Drinkwater.
The striker joined the Blues on loan during the January transfer window and last Saturday he scored his first goals for Chelsea in the Premier League game vs Huddersfield Town.
Danny Drinkwater has played just one game this season and Maurizio Sarri, last December, said the midfielder is not included in his future plans. Now the Italian, partially changed his mind because Cesc Fabregas signed for As Monaco and Chelsea didn’t find a replacement.
A very bad night for Chelsea tonight: Maurizio Sarri‘s side lost to Bournemouth 4-0 in the Premier League game played at Vitality Stadium.
After a goalless first half, when Mateo Kovacic hit the bar with his header, in the second half the Blues conceded four goals: Joshua King scored a brace, while Brooks and Daniels scored one goal each.
In his Premier League’s debut Gonzalo Higuain played 65 minutes before being replaced by Olivier Giroud.
Chelsea are back to Premier League action tonight, as they face Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium.
Here are the confirmed lineups:
BOURNEMOUTH: Boruc, Clyne, Cook, Ake, Smith, Surman, Gosling, Stanislas, Fraser, Brooks, King.
Subs: Begovic, Daniels, Rico, Mepham, Ibe, Mousset, Solanke.
CHELSEA: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger, Emerson, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Pedro, Hazard, Higuain.
Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Alonso, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, Willian, Giroud.
Tonight Chelsea will face Bournemouth, but in his pre-game press conference the Blues’ manager Maurizio Sarri spoke about the transfer market, comparing the situations of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Eden Hazard:
“The situation of Eden [compared to Hudson-Odoi] is different,” he told reporters. “Eden is 28. If he wants to go, I think he has to go. Of course, I hope the opposite. I hope he wants to stay here”.
The Italian also underlined once again how the Belgian star is not playing at his best and he cans still improve: “He has the potential to be the best player in Europe at the moment”. Sarri went on. “Sometimes he’s happy with something less. It’s my job to improve him and put him in a position to do his best.”
