Maurizio Sarri says Chelsea will not add players in the January transfer window despite wanting to improve

Sarri says Chelsea must improve defensively but says buying players will be the easy way out

Maurizio Sarri insists he is not pushing for January reinforcements to his Chelsea squad despite acknowledging his side has still to improve defensively.

Sarri is unbeaten in ten Premier League games since taking charge at Stamford Bridge and will match the Premier League record set by Frank Clark at Nottingham Forest in 1994 if the Blues avoid defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The positive start has taken the Italian by surprise who admits he expected it to take longer for his new squad to adapt to his ideas, although he is adamant there is plenty of progress still to be made.

Sarri, though, believes he can make improvements by working with his existing group of players. So far the head coach has applied no pressure on the Chelsea board to deliver new faces in the coming transfer window, an approach Sarri believes would be the easy way out.

“I didn’t ask anything about it to my club at the moment because at the moment I think we can stay with these players and be competitive,” Sarri said. “Maybe not for the top but we have to try to arrive close to the top.

“I have to think I only have to help these players to improve. It is too easy to go into the market for every problem. I think we need to improve and we need to improve with these players because they can improve.

“I have to think to improve my players. It is my work, I think. The market, there is the club. I can say to the club my opinion about what I think I need but my job is to try to improve my players.”

Sarri’s pre-season warning that Chelsea was based on his experience at previous clubs where it has taken time for his efforts to bed in, particularly in terms of the side’s collective defensive work.

Chelsea spent around £120m in the summer (AFP/Getty Images)

He continues to see a gap between recent performances and the standards he would like his players to achieve, but the Italian believes the quality of his Chelsea squad has allowed the club to make significant progress from last season’s disappointment during this transitional period.

“I think we have the same problems as I had at other clubs but the quality of the players is very high so they are able to win matches against good defensive phase,” said the head coach. “In the future we need to become a very solid team. If we want to be competitive and win something, then we need to be a solid team.

“If you look at the top of the table. Manchester City only conceded three goals and Liverpool in second four. It is important to be solid to be competitive.”

Ross Barkley is one player who has won Sarri over by adapting quickly to his methods while the former Napoli coach believes Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also making progress.

Sarri, though, wants more from his forward players collectively. “We need to improve, I think, covering the ball in the other half,” he said. “We need to press in the opponents half.”

Eden Hazard is set to return to the squad after missing the club’s last three games with a back injury. Sarri, though, says Hazard is not ready to complete a full 90 minutes and will only be used for part of the game against Palace.

“On Thursday he had a large part of the training with the team,” said the head coach. ‘Maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment because it was the first training in the last 2 weeks but probably he will be able to play for 40, 45 minutes so for us it is important.”