Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri delivers bad news to Ruben Loftus-Cheek

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CHELSEA boss Maurizio Sarri has told Ruben Loftus-Cheek to not get his hopes up about a starting place at Burnley because of the number of options at the club.

Chelsea were in complete control at Stamford Bridge last night after a standout performance from Loftus-Cheek.
Sarri placed faith in the Englishman and he repaid his manager with a match-winning hat-trick against BATE in a 3-1 victory.
It is his first hat-trick for the club and gives the Italian coach a headache when it comes to his midfield selections and he is first Englishman to score one in Europea since Harry Kane in 2014.
Jorginho and N’Golo Kante look to have nailed two of the three positions available, but competing for the final place are Ross Barkley, Cesc Fabregas, Mateo Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek.

And the academy graduate has been frustrated by his lack of chances in the first-team this season, with rumours linking him with a move away in January.
He will feel he can do no more after standing out among his senior team-mates but Sarri has brought him back down to earth.
He said last night: “At the beginning of the season he was a very good player and now he is a good player that is more suited to my style of football.
“But we have a tactical problem, because we have four midfielders with very similar characteristics.

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“Eden Hazard is more attacking and N’Golo Kante is more defensive, but it is very hard to play four midfielders with similar characteristics.
“We have to continue to work with all our midfielders at work in the defensive phase.”
“We will see tomorrow for Sunday as I don’t know at the moment, but we will need to change six players.

“Burnley are very difficult, I saw a lot of their matches last season, and I know it will be a tough game.”
The Italian was fuming with his side after conceding a late goal, spoiling the clean sheet.
“The target in the short period is to qualify and then to win the group. We played very well for 65 minutes and not very well in the last 20 minutes. It was a good match.
“When we conceded the goal I didn’t like it very much. I don’t know why but I prefer the clean sheet.”

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