Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri share a mutual
admiration and style of play, but as Chelsea visit Manchester City on
Sunday, Sarri is also following Guardiola’s experience of a difficult
first year in England.
Long forgotten now after romping to the
Premier League with a record 100 points last season, City suffered some
serious growing pains in Guardiola’s debut campaign.
Despite preparing for the Catalan’s arrival
for years with the hire of his former Barcelona colleagues Ferran
Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, City scraped into the top four in 2016/17
by just three points thanks to winning their final four league games.
Sarri acknowledged on Friday a return
to Champions League football next season is Chelsea’s target with a
12-point gap to City and Liverpool too big to bridge for the title.
The Blues enter the weekend holding onto
fourth by two points from a surging Manchester United with Arsenal just a
point further back.
That lead could be gone by kick-off at the
Etihad, though, with United and Arsenal visiting the bottom two sides in
the division Fulham and Huddersfield respectively on Saturday.
Yet, hope does exist for Chelsea should Sarri
learn the same lessons Guardiola did after his first experience of the
harsh winter months in English football.
Sarri did not suffer defeat for his first 18 games in charge until late November.
A run of five losses in 12 Premier
League matches, most notably a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Bournemouth
last month, has since taken the shine off the Italian’s reputation.
Guardiola won his first 10 games in all competitions as City boss before things started to unravel.
A
2-0 win at Everton on Wednesday night that took City back to the top of
the table on goal difference came almost two years to the day since his
side were thrashed 4-0 at Goodison Park.
“People believe we arrive with good players,
good clubs and everything immediately must work,” said Guardiola on
Friday of Sarri’s current predicament.
“Sometimes you need more time but I think the season from Chelsea is exceptional.”
‘There is a gap’
Unfortunately for Sarri he may not be allowed
the time Guardiola was afforded given the lengths City went to secure
his signature and also the trigger happy culture at Chelsea under Roman
Abramovich.
“We need to work. Guardiola is in his third
season in the Premier League, (Liverpool manager, Jurgen) Klopp his
fourth or fifth,” said Sarri on Friday.
“You have to be more competitive in the market
or you need to work. We have to work and try to reduce the gap because
at the moment there is a gap.”
The reference to the transfer market may prove another significant difference.
Guardiola was allowed over £250 million ($323
million) in transfer fees alone to transform his squad for last season
on the likes of Ederson, Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo Silva.
Sarri is unlikely to be handed that sort of
war chest to work with, but the former Napoli boss does finally have the
striker he wanted after being reunited with Gonzalo Higuain in January.
The Argentine made an instant impact with his
first two goals in just his second Premier League appearance in a 5-0
thrashing of Huddersfield last weekend to right the Chelsea ship after
the Bournemouth debacle.
Higuain should not only add much needed
firepower and a focal point to a Chelsea attack that had become
toothless, but his presence also allows Eden Hazard to return to his
preferred role on the left of the attack, from where he also scored
twice against Huddersfield.
“He’s very useful for Eden and they are really very suitable to play together,” added Sarri.
Should Higuain and Hazard continue to hit it
off, it will give Sarri some badly needed breathing space to try and
follow Guardiola’s lead by coming good in his second season.
Instant impact: Chelsea need Gonzalo Higuain’s goals to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League
