Chelsea narrowly escaped with a 2-1 win over Cardiff on Sunday.
After going 1-0 down just after half-time to a Vitor Camarasa goal, Chelsea struggled to find the breakthrough and looked on course for a disappointing defeat.
But with six minutes to play, Cesar Azpilicueta popped up at the back post to nod in a header after Marcus Alonso knocked on Eden Hazard’s corner.
Despite the Chelsea captain being stood in a blatant offside position when the header was made by Alonso, the goal stood and Cardiff manager Neil Warnock was left fuming on the touchline.
Things got worse for Warnock, however, as Loftus-Cheek scored a 91st-minute winner to send Blues fans into pandemonium in the away end.
Loftus-Cheek was brought on with 25 minutes remaining in the game, as Jorginho was preferred in the centre of midfield.
Speaking to one publication, former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley criticised Sarri for not starting either Loftus-Cheek or Hudson-Odoi.
The latter started for England against Montenegro last week, but is still yet to start a league game for The Blues.
And Burley was at a loss as to why Sarri keeps the same team week in week out rather than changing it.
“When you look at Chelsea, they’re clueless,” he said.
“He’s still playing Jorginho, when you’ve got Ruben Loftus-Cheek coming off the bench.
“You talk about changing the dynamic of the team, he should be playing.
“Hudson-Odoi was a star for England, he doesn’t even get on.
“People will say it doesn’t matter because they won, but Chelsea were lucky.”
Chelsea will now face Brighton on Wednesday in a bid to keep their top four hopes alive.
With seven games left to play, Chelsea are level on points with Arsenal and one point behind Manchester United and Tottenham. Arsenal have one game in hand.