Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has claimed his team was poor in the last 15 minutes against Arsenal.
Although the Blues won their first home match under Sarri, the tactician was quick to point out that he would have preferred smoking than watching the last phase of the match. Marcos Alonso netted the winner in that last period to get Chelsea a 3-2 win over arch-rivals Arsenal.
“I enjoyed the match for 75 minutes. The other 15 minutes it was better to smoke, I think. It was a wonderful match for everybody but those 15 minutes were horrible. At the moment we are not ready. We need to improve and I hope that, in two months’ time, we will be able to play 90 minutes like we did in the first 25 today.” Sarri said.
Marcos Alonso has been directly involved in 20 Premier League goals since his Chelsea debut in September 2016 (14 goals, six assists); seven more than any other defender.
Unai Emery is the first Arsenal manager to lose his first two games in charge since Steve Burtenshaw, who lost his first three in charge as caretaker in March/April 1986.
On 14 July 2018, Sarri was appointed manager of Chelsea, replacing Antonio Conte who was sacked the day before. In his first competitive game on 5 August, the team lost the 2018 FA Community Shield 2–0 to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. The following week he managed to record his first win as Chelsea manager in a 3-0 triumph away to Huddersfield Town in the Premier League
Sarri is well known for his smoking habit, and is often seen smoking during games. In 2018, Napoli’s UEFA Europa League opponents, RB Leipzig, built a special smoking section in the locker-room area of their stadium, Red Bull Arena, specifically for him.
