Sarri to assess players’ fitness ahead of Cardiff game

Chelsea will have to assess the fitness of a number of players ahead of Sunday’s game at Cardiff, according to Maurizio Sarri.

Several of the squad were involved in recent international matches and head coach Sarri has suggested that there have been signs of fatigue.

Blues duo Ross Barkley and Callum Hudson-Odoi featured for England and Eden Hazard for Belgium, with France duo N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud among Chelsea players also in action.

Chelsea have a busy schedule ahead and will play Brighton on Wednesday.

“We have some players a little bit tired now. Kante, Giroud and Hazard played three matches in seven days,” Sarri said.

“Now we are not in October, it is different and players are more tired. So we need to recover.

“Yesterday I saw during training that somebody was a little bit tired.”

Speaking at a media conference on Friday, Sarri also said he believes Callum Hudson-Odoi will stay at Chelsea despite speculation over the youngster’s future.