Man City likely to add to Sarri’s blues
Chelsea coach downplays his side’s chances
London – It has taken less than two weeks for the optimism generated by a 12-match unbeaten start to Maurizio Sarri’s reign at Stamford Bridge to fizzle out and this weekend the Italian faces his biggest test to date when Manchester City visit.
In fairness to the former Napoli manager, he stressed throughout the heady days of early autumn that Chelsea were not equipped to challenge City for the title and ahead of tomorrow’s clash between the sides a 10-point gap has opened up.
On Tuesday, Pep Guardiola’s City maintained their searing pace at the top with a win against Watford. Twenty-four hours later Chelsea went down 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers – their second defeat in three premier league games.
Sarri said his side had only played well for 55 minutes at Wolves and knows they will have to be at full tilt for 90 minutes tomorrow evening if they are to have any chance of stopping the City juggernaut.
He said he expects a “big reaction” tomorrow but already appears to have settled for a top-four scrap along with London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal rather than chasing down Liverpool and champions City.
“Manchester City are in another category. We have to play and to fight to be in the top four,” Sarri said after the setback at Wolves. “City are the best team in Europe, maybe the best in the world. They can win the Champions League.”
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, who like City are unbeaten, started without Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane at Burnley on Wednesday but still won 3-1.
With a huge ‘must-win’ Champions League game coming up next week against Napoli, Klopp may well gamble on squad rotation as they travel to seventh-placed Bournemouth for tomorrow’s early kickoff.
Victory for Liverpool would take them top, at least until City’s later clash with Chelsea.
Third-placed Tottenham will also have a massive Champions League night on their minds when they travel to Leicester City tomorrow on evening. Manager Mauricio Pochettino will be less than pleased that his side kick off at 9.45pm (SA time), with a trip to Barcelona following on Tuesday – a game Tottenham will almost certainly have to win to reach the last 16 of the tournament.
Fifth-placed Arsenal have no such concerns as they host Huddersfield Town tomorrow looking to extend their unbeaten run to 21 matches. – Reuters