Chelsea FC have been as up and down as any side in the Premier League this season, achieving some eye-popping wins over the big boys but also sometimes struggling against a mid-table team here and there. What explains the Jekyll and Hyde pattern of the season thus far? In the eyes of manager Maurizio Sarri, it’s all about the mentality of the team.
He thinks the main issue with his side is in between the ears, and he’s even considering bringing in a sports psychologist, down the line to solve it. When asked about the possibility of this, the Italian responded: “Not at the moment, because it’s not easy. I had a sports psychologist 15 years ago in Italy, it was really very difficult because the clubs were not ready in that moment, but I think that they are not ready also in this moment.”
Sarri also made it clear that Christmas is no holiday for his team, as they held training sessions on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Blues will head to Watford tomorrow for a Boxing Day fixture against the seventh place Hornets. Let’s take a look at the injury situation for both sides.
Andreas Christensen is the only player who is certain to be unavailable for ?Chelsea, so that means Sarri will likely do some squad rotation when choosing his line-up for this one. In switching over to the hosts, Will Hughes and Sebastian Prodl are the closest of ?the team’s injured contingent to returning to action. Both stand a chance of potentially featuring in the team again soon. As we’re now in the fixture congestion of the festive period, manager Javi Gracia could certainly use all hands on deck.
However, one should expect to see the same first team tomorrow night that we saw emerge victorious at the London Stadium on the weekend.
Chelsea FC at Watford FYIs
Kick-off: 7:30pm (BST), 2:30 pm (EST) Wednesday December 26, Vicarage Road
Google Result Probability: Chelsea win 55%, Draw 26%, Watford win-19%
Odds via Odds Checker: Chelsea win 10/13, draw 29/10, Watford 17/4
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Watford 1, Chelsea 0
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.