Chelsea face Vidi in the Europa League clash on Thursday night expecting nothing but three points despite winning all their five games in Group L and qualifying for the knockout phase after only their third match.
Maurizio Sarri is expected to mix up his side that faces the minnows from Hungary in the dead rubber game and the Italian coach has hinted there will be minutes available to Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu. Both youngsters have had a difficult time to come by playing timethis season and they will be eagerly awaiting another shot in the firsts team.
But Sarri is unsure how many minutes the two players will have in Thursday night’s clash at the Groupama Arena.
“For tomorrow we have three 2000 in the 18. Maybe Odoi will be on the pitch, I don’t know at the moment. Ampadu maybe on the pitch because of Cahill injury. Premier League, I don’t know. I don’t think in Manchester City, United, the other big teams there are 2000 with a lot of minutes. I hope in the future there will be a chance for Callum, for Ampadu. It is up to them I think.
Odoi played in August, the Community Shield, two Europa League matches. Tomorrow maybe he is on the pitch so it is four opportunities. I think they have only to play very well in this opportunity. For the moment Odoi did it. Now I am looking forward to Ampadu. The future for them is very important. They have to improve every day. Technically they are very good.”
Maurizio Sarri, Football London
Hudson-Odoi will hope to add to his three games in the second tier European competition with Chelsea already top of the group with 15 points after five games. Ampadu however, has only one game to his name and that was a 27-minute appearance in the same competition.
