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Football London
Football London
Sport
Oliver Harbord

Maurizio Sarri reveals the player he will use to solve Chelsea's centre-back crisis

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has revealed that he has been training with Cesar Azpilicueta at centre-back in case he needs the Spaniard to solve his centre-back problem.

All three of Antonio Rudiger, Gary Cahill and Ethan Ampadu are out with injuries ahead of the Europa League semi-final first leg tie at Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow night.

That means the Blues have been left with no recognisable back-up to David Luiz and Andreas Christensen in case they hobble off at the Commerzbank-Arena.

Azpilicueta was a regular under Antonio Conte as the right of the three at the back, however under Sarri the 29-year-old has been playing at right-back, having started every Premier League match in the position this season.

Every word Maurizio Sarri just said on Chelsea at Eintracht Frankfurt, Rudiger's injury & more  

However, Sarri is lining Azpilicueta up in the middle of the defence in preparation of the worst happening in Germany.

"Cahill is out. It's a medical problem to his tendon, his Achilles tendon. So he's out," Sarri said. "He's out at the moment and I hope to recover him in one week, but I don't know at the moment.

"But he is out from... starting four or five days ago. So we are in trouble with the centre-backs.

"In the last two training sessions, we played with Azpilicueta as a centre-back in case. I think he's the only one who can play there. We've played 58 matches and in the past we were lucky with injuries. In the last 10 days, not so lucky.

An inside look at Eintracht Frankfurt: Why Luka Jovic might not be Chelsea's biggest threat  

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