Maurizio Sarri praised his players after Chelsea’s win against Newcastle and revealed he would have taken Eden Hazard off had Mateo Kovacic not tired towards the end of the game.
Both players started for the first time this season and the initial expectation was for Hazard to play around 75 minutes.
However, loan signing Kovacic went off shortly after Hazard’s 77th-minute penalty had opened the scoring and the Belgian therefore stayed on as Chelsea had used up all of their substitutions.
Blues head coach Sarri explained: “I think he (Hazard) played very well. Maybe it would have been better for him to play 70 or 75 minutes, but after the first goal Kovacic asked me to make the substitution. So it was impossible for him (Hazard) to rest.”
Joselu levelled for Newcastle shortly after Hazard’s spot-kick but DeAndre Yedlin’s own goal with three minutes remaining preserved Chelsea’s 100% record under Sarri.
The Blues have won all their games under the Italian so far and are second in the Premier League table after three matches.
“To win here is difficult. I think this (Chelsea) team from a character point of view is a strong team,” Sarri said.
This post was last modified on 28/09/2018
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Nice to keep record, up blues. 3*3=9
this is all i wanted from a manager all year.Sari is goin to make a gud name for hiself, all CHELSEA FC.
nice Chelsea performer ever against Newcastle team..but sarri should please and work on defence line, let cante stay in other to help defence.
Chelsea forever.
Kodos to loving chelsea team the played very nice am really excited, nice one guys
This is a wonderful performance. Kudos to Sarriball style. But the players should be aware of loopholes most especially at defence