Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri hatches plan to give 'fragile' Alvaro Morata confidence boost

Maurizio Sarri is considering giving striker Alvaro Morata a chance to regain some confidence in Chelsea’s final Europa League group game tomorrow night.

The Blues take on MOL Vidi in Budapest having already qualified for the last 32 and secured top spot in Group L.

Sarri is expected to leave out a number of first-team players so they can be fresh for their Premier League game at Brighton on Sunday.

Standard Sport understands Olivier Giroud is set to be one of them, leaving Morata as the only recognised forward. Sarri left Morata out for the win against Manchester City on Saturday, preferring to play with Eden Hazard as a ‘false nine’ instead. Morata, who joined from Real Madrid for a then club record £58m in 2017, has scored just one goal in his past seven appearances for Chelsea and Spain.

The manager claimed last week that the 26-year-old is feeling “mentally fragile” on the pitch, but insists he is part of his plans.

Speaking after the win against City, he explained why Morata did not feature. He said: “I think it is normal, it was a choice for this kind of match.

“I don’t know if in Brighton we will play in the same way [false nine] or not, maybe not. Alvaro is able to understand that it is only a tactical decision, it is not the final choice.”

Chelsea are considering buying a forward in the January window with Bournemouth and England striker Callum Wilson high on their wishlist.