Can Howe get the better of Sarri?

Maurizio Sarri, 59, has been managing teams since 1990 and having now come to the Premier League he is already beginning to impress. While Eddie Howe met and saw Sarri train with Empoli a few years ago, Sarri has further developed his style of play and had three years at Napoli before landing the job at Chelsea. So what are Eddie Howe's chances of winning the tactical battle at Stanford Bridge?

Howe will take on Maurizio Sarri for the
first time in a competitive Premier League match.

Eddie Howe had better give himself plenty of homework on this one. Sarri is a major student of the game and he will have Chelsea very well prepared for the Cherries. While Sarri is still getting used to the players at Stamford Bridge, their is a slight limitation on what he can immediate get out of his players. It takes time to build partnerships and understanding which is why Sarri hasn't made too many radical changes to the starting 11. In goal he had to bring in a new keeper, when Thibaut Courtois left for Real Madrid, but signing Kepa Arrizabalaga was a headline statement because of the enormous transfer fee. A new keeper is a vulnerability for any team and while he has been well protected by Rudiger and Luiz, Callum Wilson will enjoy seeing if he can make life more difficult than other forwards have for Chelsea so far.

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The defence is completed with Alonso and Azpilicueta who have been getting forward and supplying crosses and shots and will often be the extra men in attack. So Howe has to find ways of stopping these two from bombing forward into Bournemouth's box. Jorginho has been one new signing that has been getting rave reviews for his passing. He is a main supplier for Eden Hazard, so Bournemouth need to try and wrestle possession from him - job for Gosling or Lerma perhaps?

The special player is Hazard of course and even when he is not getting the goals they have Pedro, Morata, Willian and Giroud - a rich pool of World Class talent. Eddie Howe can't cater for individual brilliance, but he can look to see ways to get at this Chelsea side and he'll probably find that when Chelsea attack, his players will have to defend better than well and must exploit any counter-attack moves with great skill to undo this Chelsea side. 

Whether Howe also tries to play with a high press we'll have to wait and see, but making Chelsea do things they don't want to is the brave and probably only way Sarri's planning can be affected. In this game, Bournemouth also need ball winners I feel who can quickly find space for King, Fraser and Wilson who will run at goal. It should be an exciting battle if Bournemouth can keep it a tight game.May be both unbeaten records can stay in tact.