Chelsea will face an in-form Watford tonight as they look to bounce back after a shock 0-1 home defeat against Leicester City. Sarri has planned extensive talks with his team to address the Christmas wobble in form. The Blues got the better of Manchester City but have lost 3 matches already in the last 30 odd days.
This will certainly be a cause of concern for Sarri with the Italian mastermind unable to achieve stability in his attacking setup. The false-9 experiment hasn’t been a resounding success and with Alvaro Morata unsettled and Giroud finding it hard to score goals, it seems inevitable that Chelsea will make an early dip into the January transfer market.
Watford have scored 7 goals in their last 3 matches and will go into this game a confident bunch. Chelsea, on the other hand, will be wary of dropping any more points with Tottenham Hotspur eclipsing them and with Arsenal in close pursuit and Manchester United looking a different team altogether, these are points Sarri will be desperate to collect.
PRE-MATCH MINI TRIVIA
- Watford have scored at least 2 goals in their last 3 matches against Chelsea.
- Watford have conceded at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 6 matches in the Premier League.
The above stats point to another high scoring encounter which certainly makes it harder to predict the winner.
CHELSEA TEAM NEWS
Alvaro Morata is close to regaining full fitness but is unlikely to start. Andreas Christensen remains out.
PREDICTED CHELSEA LINEUP VS WATFORD (4-3-3)
DEFENCE
Kepa Arrizabalaga was a bright spot in their defeat against the Foxes and will expect another busy outing tonight.
Cesar Azpilicueta will start on the right once again. He hasn’t been his usual consistent self and will look to get better in the coming weeks.
With Christensen injured, the duo of David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger is expected to start once again in central defence.
Marcos Alonso came within a whisker of salvaging a point for Chelsea against Leicester and it is his forward forays which are holding him in good stead in the first team.
MIDFIELD
Jorginho is central to Sarri’s philosophy and with Chelsea dropping points, he is unlikely to get a rest as of now. The Italian will start in central midfield orchestrating the play. N’Golo Kante is expected to line up on the right with Ross Barkley in with a shout to feature on the left of Jorginho.
ATTACK
Eden Hazard is likely to shift to a familiar role on the left wing. The Belgian has been Chelsea’s best player and needs to produce the goods again to help the Blues tide over this difficult period.
Olivier Giroud seems like the logical option now to start up front with Morata slowly regaining fitness and Hazard moving to the wing.
On the right, Pedro is expected to keep his place with Willian missing out.
