When Maurizio Sarri took over for Antonio Conte this summer at Chelsea FC, it was thought the Blues would become higher scoring and more entertaining. The football product would be more aesthetically pleasing and the results improved.
And for awhile that’s exactly what happened as Chelsea stayed undefeated pretty late into the season. But then they came back to Earth and leveled off, following by a dry stretch. And now they have scored just one more goal and garnered only one more Premier League point than at the very same stage of last term, when they were led by Conte.
Scoring has really stagnated as of late, with the Blues scoring just 12 goals in their last 11 League games. However, Sarri says that he will not move away from his 4-3-3 formation.
“We are not ready to change at the moment,” Sarri said during his Friday news conference.
“We are not ready. I can change when we are at 100 percent in what I want to see. If in 4-3-3 we are at the top, we can try to change. Like in Naples last season, when we played in the last period also in 4-2-3-1. But not at the moment. We are not ready.”
Sarri is sticking to his guns on his formation, and it appears he’ll do the same with his lineup. The Italian seems content to stick with Eden Hazard in a false nine leading the line instead of relying more on either of the two pure strikers on his roster.
Perhaps a Sarri reunion with Gonzalo Higuain will shake things up and restart the offense. It appears that he’ll be arriving on loan from Juventus, formally announced perhaps as early as Sunday or Monday.
Chelsea at Arsenal FYIs
Kickoff: Saturday, January 19, 5:30 PM local, Emirates
Google Result Probability: Chelsea win 39%, Draw 28%, Arsenal win 33%
Starting XI Predictions: Chelsea Arsenal
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Odds via Bet Fair: Chelsea win 11/8, Draw 27/10, Arsenal win 19/10
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Arsenal 2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.