Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has said that his superstar forward Eden Hazard has a back issue that will force him to miss tomorrow night’s Europa League group stage game against Bate Borisov. The Italian remains hopeful that his 27-year-old scoring threat will be fit for Sunday’s trip to Burnley FC for a Premier League fixture against the Clarets.
“He is out for sure. He has a back problem,” said Sarri. “We are trying to solve the problem for Sunday.”
Eden Hazard is one of the starters being rested for the Europa clash on Thursday night. Sarri indicated that he will not be the only one, as he plans to rotate his squad and give the bench more minutes in the game.
Sarri also lamented the issues he’ll have when he brings a tired squad, playing off a very short turnaround, to the Turf Moor this weekend.
“This match is not a big problem, because we have to play after five days, from the last match,” he said.
“The problem will be on Sunday, because on Sunday we will play after 65 hours. So we need to change some of them.”
Sarri, who says he has no worries about his team being fresh tomorrow night, also tipped his hand a bit as to who will be in his lineups this week.
“For example Jorginho we need to rest now, because he played 90 minutes the two matches with [Italy], and then he played for [nearly] 100 minutes in the last match,” Sarri added.
“It’s time to rest for him. Andreas Christensen I think will be on the pitch, Ruben Loftus-Cheek maybe.”
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