On a matchday which Newcastle fans might want to forget, elsewhere a much more thrilling match took place. A 3-2 between Chelsea and Arsenal, with the winners coming up to St. James’ Park this week to replay that stunning season’s closing match in May earlier this year.

Opposition At A Glance

Chelsea Manager

Antonio Conte, a league winning manager, was sacked early in the transfer window. Reports about falling out with the board, etc., but we can only repeat rumours. It doesn’t matter. He’s the past. Chelsea’s new manager is Maurizio Sarri. The 59-year-old has managed a lot of teams already, most of them in Italy, with a very successful 3 year-stint at Napoli before joining Chelsea this July. He played against Rafa twice, winning one and drawing the other. Sarri’s style is very offensive and offers a lot going forward. Usually, he sets his team up in a 4-3-3.

His tactics are a little like those of Pep Guardiola. With a high line of pressing, dominating possession and a lot of pass-and-move football it results in a very attractive style of play. He’s often compared to the tiki-taka style of football and Napoli used to pass a lot in the final third, creating chances and boosting Expected Goals out of the roof. Watching his side in Italy was a joy and anything but classic Italian football. He brings good football to the Premier League and time will show how it works with the Chelsea squad, judging from their last game, it does quite well.

Current Squad

On paper, Chelsea’s squad is very balanced and contains a lot of quality; these players should all be playing in the final rounds of the Champions League. Since Sarri, they line up in a 4-3-3, with a centre-midfield of Kanté, Barkley and Jorginho as a defensive midfielder in front of the back four. The bench holds Mateo Kovacic who came on for Barkley in Week 2, but he could surely also be a starter for Chelsea.

In the front three, there are Willian and Pedro on the wings, where Hazard remained benched for the last two games, but I think he will be starting soon. In the centre, there is the Spanish forward Morata, with Giroud as a backup. In defence, David Luiz and Rüdiger have taken the centre back roles so far, with Christensen as an available backup or even as a starting replacement for Luiz. Their full-backs so far were Alonso and Azpilicueta, with Zappacosta as an additional right-back and Emerson on the other side.

Chelsea’s transfers

Chelsea signed four players this summer, with the most underwhelming one being Rob Green from Huddersfield as third keeper. The other three transfers seem more interesting, as they brought in a very expensive Goalkeeper in Kepa from Athletic. It was a buy they had to do as Courtois left for the Spanish club Real Madrid, age and quality wise Kepa could be an upgrade, time will show if he is worth the money spent.

As Chelsea dealt with Real Madrid this summer already, they also arranged a loan signing for them with the Austria-born Croatian international Mateo Kovacic, efficiently strengthening their squad in the midfield position. Another midfield addition is the defensive player Jorginho from Sarri’s ex-team Napoli. The Italian is an asset the manager didn’t want to miss at Chelsea, and it’s usually good for a manager if he can bring in players who know their tactics and were vital for them before.