Sarri: Honeymoon over?

Maurizio Sarri came to Stamford Bridge with great credentials. He did well at lowly Napoli, only denied the Italian league by the superpowers of Juventus. There were also great expectations that he would win the league at his first attempt. After all, three of his predecessors did it. Mourinho, Ancelotti and Conte all won the premiership the season they took over control.

It started well, with the new look Chelsea under Sarri going on an unbeaten run. The first crack started to show at their home game against Manchester United. It took a last minute equaliser to deny former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho a fulfilling win at Stamford Bridge.

Then came the disgrace at the hands of city rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. The latest and probably the most shocking defeat so far came from promoted club Wolves. Now the next challenge is high flying Manchester City.

To get anything out of this game, Chelsea players must be at their very best. City don’t take any prisoners. They rarely have off days, they are miles ahead of the rest of the pack. Pep and his boys know that if they beat Chelsea, they have effectively ended the Londoners’ challenge for their crown, they can then concentrate on the threat from Klopp and the Kop.

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Chelsea too will want to stay in the race. They will still want to maintain their challenge, hoping for an unlikely slip up from City boys. By and large, this promises to be an intriguing game. My money is on Manchester City, as usual.