EPL 2018/19: How Chelsea might line up this season.

Midfield: Kante, Jorginho, Barkley

This season at Chelsea will be very interesting. Among various reasons, one reason is Chelsea’s midfield trio. Sarri’s Napoli showed that he likes to play with one player at the base of the midfield that regulates the play and the tempo, along with connecting with both the sides of attack. Jorginho was that player at Napoli and he brought the same guy with him to London. His game with the left side of Napoli’s attack was better than that with the right side and that left side consisted of Hamsik, Insigne and Rui. Singing him means that Kante has someone to look over his shoulder. What is intriguing this season is how Sarri will use both of them together; maybe he’ll give Kante to one side of the attack and Jorginho to the other as they are defensively astute and can pass the ball well.

Another aspect of Sarri’s midfield is that he uses one attacking midfielder that plays the defence piercing ball in the final third of the pitch and that person in this Chelsea team is Ross Barkley. The English midfielder signed from Everton last season but did not feature much. His place will be under threat given the recent loan move of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid. The Croatian moved away from Santiago Bernabeu for the sole purpose of getting more game time under his belt. Kovacic will a role in Sarri's setup but he will be an apprentice to the likes of Kante as his playing style is quite similar to the Frenchman and he is still an unfinished product. This will give more opportunity to Barkley to impress as he will be given more time under Sarri than he was given under Conte. Barkley has impressed in the preseason and will continue to prove his worth to the Italian and cement his place in the team.

World Cup winner Kante will look forward to playing under Sarri this season

The most Sarri-like player in the Chelsea roster is N'Golo Kante. The Frenchman is a player that any manager, regardless of the tactics, would like to have. But to have Kante as a player when you are Sarri, is just a match made in heaven. Kante runs all day long. He covers a lot of ground and has been vital for Chelsea and Leicester City in their respective Premier League winning campaigns and for France in this year's World Cup win. Sarri's game-play will suit the French as he tends to press as soon as the ball arrives at the feet of his opposition and look for a defence splitting forward pass.

It is highly likely that Kovacic may form a part of the trio at the end of the season, but for now, Barkely is becoming a Sarri favourite and will start in front of the likes of Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Danny Drinkwater.