Maurizio Sarri has appealed to Chelsea’s fans not to turn against his players in the game that could decide his fate as head coach as he insisted that the atmosphere in the camp remains positive.
Chelsea entertain Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Wednesday night with Sarri’s future and the club’s top-four hopes on the line.
Sarri has refused to offer Kepa Arrizabalaga any guarantees that he will start against Spurs, despite the goalkeeper’s apology for refusing to be substituted in the Carabao Cup final, for which he was fined £190,000.
Arrizabalaga has since been fined one week’s wages and apologised after he left Willy Caballero waiting on the touchline, sparking a furious reaction from his manager in the penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
The Blues boss says he wants to put the incident behind them and spoke to the club’s director Marina Graniskovaia, insisting that the dressing room atmosphere at the club remains positive ahead of another massive game against Tottenham.
“I spoke with Marina this week, before the final, just for good luck. I spoke to Marina after the match about the Kepa situation. My relationship with the club is like before,” Sarri said.
“The goalkeeper is not a problem. He made a big mistake, but he is really a very nice boy. There is only one difficulty: the results. The atmosphere in the training ground is now very good. The application of the players is better than before.
“I think Willy Caballero is a very good goalkeeper and he’s a great man. He is a point of reference in the dressing room for his personality, for his behaviour, for everything.
“He has the maturity to be ready for anything. The problem now is to have results with consistency. We know the situation. It’s difficult to play every three days with the same mental intensity.
“It’s not easy because, usually, we talk about physical condition, that it is very difficult to play every three days. But the big problem is mental, to play every match with the same level of application and determination is very difficult.
“We have to do it tomorrow because this is a very important match. A very difficult match. Tottenham are playing very well away from home. It’s not easy to play with the same level of application as in the last match because, mentally, we spent a lot in the match on Sunday.”
Chelsea’s match at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday is their first in the Premier League after four consecutive cup games in the Carabao Cup, Europa League and FA Cup.