Chelsea: Maurizio Sarri’s rotation shows his pivot from England to Europe
Chelsea have six more Premier League games and are competing with three other quality teams for two places. Maurizio Sarri’s starting lineups next week will hint at whether he thinks the Premier League or Europa League is the best route to the Champions League.
Has Maurizio Sarri finally seen the light? Chelsea played Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge this week with Andreas Christensen, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the starting XI. Chelsea vs. West Ham is the final game of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures and the battle for a top-four spot is between the four competing teams is hotting up.
Neither Tottenham or Manchester United play this weekend, while Arsenal travel to Goodison Park to face Everton. A win for Chelsea on Monday evening will see them in one of those Champions League places. As the club are still in the Europa League and playing again on Thursday it’s almost inevitable Sarri will rotate the team to some degree.
The clamour to see Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi play was satisfied against Brighton and, all round, it was a good performance. Sarri’s team selection in this upcoming run may give us an indication which competition Sarri sees as his best hope of qualifying for Champions League football.
In the Europa League, the Blues have a maximum of five games to secure football at the top European table for next season. Slavia Prague are the opponents in the quarter-finals. Get through that and either Eintracht Frankfurt or Benfica will be the remaining obstacle to the final.
Sarri may decide to put all his eggs in the Europa League basket, as Jose Mourinho did with Manchester United last season.
Chelsea’s remaining Premier League fixtures after the Hammers game are away at Liverpool, at home to Burnley, away at United, home to Watford and away at Leicester City. The game in Manchester on April 28 may well be crucial in deciding both sides’ fate in the run for the top-four. Those away fixtures up in the north-west give Chelsea a tricky run-in in the Premier League.
Two games against Slavia Prague – 72nd in UEFA’s club rankings – and two against either Frankfurt (77th) or Benfica (21st) – look easier on paper. The final against either Napoli, Arsenal or Valencia will be much more competitive, but anyone can win a one off-game in final. Just ask Bayern Munich.
Whilst we (not all, but some) were eulogising about Sarri using the “yoof” in the last league game, maybe all wasn’t quite as it seemed. Maybe, there’s a different agenda at work here. Could it be Sarri has simply switched his focus from matters of domesticity to those more continental? If getting Champions League football is his goal – and you have to think it’s the club’s ambition – the Europa League has to be the best opportunity to realise that. How about if it’s not even about Chelsea?
Let’s not also forget that Sarri is still drawing blanks in the trophy department. Arsene Wenger used to think you got a trophy for fourth place in the Premier League, but you actually don’t. Maybe Sarri has suddenly realised, with the season ebbing away, the Europa League is his best chance of ever getting a trophy… anywhere.
Has Sarri seen the light in terms of playing “the kids” over imposing his football on those who understand the terminology and the methodology? Of course he hasn’t.
Next. David Luiz should cash out in Qatar, clear the way for younger centerbacks. dark
He’s simply realised that his time with one of the most prolific trophy winning teams of the last decade is nearing an end with nothing to show.