Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri has said that star forward, Eden Hazard was unable to start Chelsea’s opening Premier League fixture against Huddersfield due his late return to training.
Sarri admitted that Hazard will need to enjoy a productive week of training to prove he is able to start against Arsenal next weekend.
Sarri made a perfect start to his Premier League career by leading Chelsea to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Huddersfield at the Kirklees Stadium on Saturday.
N’Golo Kante opened scoring for the visitors with a first-half volley before summer signing, Jorginho doubled Chelsea’s lead on the stroke of half-time from the spot kick.
Winger Pedro put the game to bed with ten minutes remaining, latching on to a ball from Hazard and firing past Huddersfield goalkeeper, Ben Hamer.
Asked why Hazard did not start the fixture, Sarri said, “I think that Eden in this moment cannot play for 90 minutes.
“He needs to improve [his fitness] and have more training.
“I thought the best thing for him was to play 15 20 minutes when the opposition was tired.”
Speaking on his team’s performance at Huddersfield, Sarri added, “I am very happy because in the first part of the season for us it will not be easy to gain points.
“The first half was hard. If you look at the result, you can think of an easy game.
“But we were in trouble for 15 minutes against a physical team… we are not a physical team.
“The best capacity was to suffer, but then I think the second half, maybe they were tired and it was more comfortable.”
