Chelsea
boss Maurizio Sarri has the chance to finalise his plans for the season as
Lyon visit Stamford Bridge for a pre-season friendly on Tuesday.
The Italian will be hoping to return to winning ways after the Blues
suffered defeat in his first competitive game in charge, with a 2-0
Community Shield loss to Manchester City on Sunday.
However, following a pre-season tour which has seen the club take in games
in France and Ireland, the last victory came on July 23 when Pedro scored an
early winner against Perth Glory in Australia, which was followed by penalty
defeats to both Inter Milan and Arsenal in the International Champions Cup.
Sarri admitted his side were 'not in control of the match' on Sunday and the
squad needed to continue to work hard on the training pitch ahead of their
Premier League opener against Huddersfield on Saturday.
Speaking post-match at Wembley, he went on to malign the club's pre-season
schedule and revealed that, as such, he would prefer to be training rather
than faced with another match so soon.
"It's not very easy," he said. "In the next week we have a friendly match
again. I prefer in this moment to be on the pitch with the players training.
"In the second half [of the Community Shield] there was a big difference
from the physical point of view. So we have to work. Our pre-season until
now has been a bit crazy, so we have to work."
Defender Cesar Azpilicueta also offered his views to the club's official
website, explaining that despite some early misfortune, he 'trusts' his
team-mates to deliver under the new boss.
"He knows what he wants and he explains it to us," he told chelseafc.com.
"We have to replicate what he wants and the only way is to keep working in
every training session, every game, to try to reach that.
"The first target is Saturday against Huddersfield, we can't think ahead of
that. After being out of the Champions League we have to be focused, we have
to go game by game to keep improving and then we will see how far we can go.
I trust in this team, I believe in what we are doing and the only way is to
look forward."
Team news
The game will be the first opportunity for home fans to catch a glimpse of
blockbuster summer signing Jorginho following his debut at Wembley, while
the game could come too soon for reported Real Madrid targets Eden Hazard
and Thibaut Courtois, who were due to return to training on Monday following
their World Cup exploits with Belgium.
Barcelona target Willian confirmed on Monday there had been interest from
the La Liga giants, yet expressed his desire to remain at the club.
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