Chelsea boss Sarri backs Morata and Giroud
Maurizio Sarri has insisted Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata are worth places in his squad despite their lack of goals.
Morata’s strike against Arsenal in August is the only goal for Chelsea the two forwards have managed between them so far this season.
But head coach Sarri, who continues to overlook exciting youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi in favour of the more experienced duo, says Giroud performs a vital, unselfish role when he plays up front.
And the Italian, who wants Morata to show more aggression when leading the line, was encouraged by what he saw after the Spaniard came on as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool.
“I want to use Giroud and Morata because I think it’s right to use them in the first part of the season,” Sarri said.
“You know the characteristics; Giroud is very important for his team-mates and I think Morata in the last 25 minutes was more aggressive than usual. “
Chelsea’s main source of goals has been Eden Hazard, whose sublime opener on Saturday took his tally for the season to seven.
Sarri reiterated that he believes Hazard can score 40 goals this season.
The former Napoli boss is also confident his team will not be overly reliant on the Belgian to score.
Asked about the lack of goals from his strikers, Sarri said: “I am not really worried about it and because we have a winger who is able to score frequently.
“I think at the end of the season we can have four or five players over 10 goals. So it’s not only Hazard.
“Of course Hazard is the first. But I think Pedro, Willian, Morata will be able to score more than 10 goals in the season.”
