After sending a message to his No.1 goalkeeper, ESPN FC’s Gab Marcotti and the FC crew explain why Maurizio Sarri should start Kepa against Fulham.
LONDON — Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri admitted he hopes that Tottenham will be drawn into the top-four race in the final stretch of the Premier League season.
Spurs have taken just one point from their last three Premier League matches, drawing 1-1 with Arsenal at Wembley on Saturday after away losses to Burnley and Chelsea earlier this week, all but extinguishing their hopes of sneaking into the title race between Manchester City and Liverpool.
Chelsea can close to within five points of their bitter rivals with a game in hand if they beat Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday, and Sarri has not discounted the possibility of his team fighting their way back to a third-place finish.
“I hope that Tottenham will be involved, of course,” Sarri said. “In that case, there are two spots for four teams and it’s much better than one for three. So we will see. Now I can understand very well that, in England, it’s very difficult to be in the top four. The Premier League is really very competitive and very hard.
“Not only the Premier League, because you have to play in the FA Cup, the League Cup, and every match is really very difficult — if you think that, in the League Cup, we played against Liverpool, twice against Tottenham, the final against City… it seems like a Champions League.
“If you won against Liverpool, if you won against Tottenham, you can go into the final of the Champions League. So every match is very difficult and mentally very expensive. You risk arriving at this moment of the season really very tired, more mentally than physically. In England, the season is really very difficult.”
Sarri emerged from a defining week in his first season as Chelsea head coach with much-improved performances from his team in the Carabao Cup final against City and in victory over Tottenham in the Premier League, easing the fears about his immediate job security.
It was also a positive week for Jorginho, who has become the target for growing criticism from frustrated Chelsea supporters as the centrepiece of Sarri’s system but performed well under pressure against dangerous opposition.
Jorginho told ESPN Brasil after the Carabao Cup final that Chelsea fans “have the right to complain” about his form this season while insisting that he remains determined to change their minds, and Sarri has no doubt that his former Napoli stalwart has the mental resilience to deal with any criticism.
“Jorginho has a very strong character, a very strong personality,” Sarri added. “So I can believe that he has no problem to play under pressure.
“I think that he played very well in the last match [against Tottenham], better in the second half than in the first half. So, for him, it’s very important to finish the match in that way. I think that he can do better. But he needs all the team to understand very well our way of football.”
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