Chelsea news: Willian admits Maurizio Sarri's side find it ‘difficult’ to play through defensive teams

Chelsea's movement in the final third has hindered their play against defensive teams

For Chelsea right now, they key to moving up the table remains the movement in the final third of the pitch. It still feels like they are nowhere near as fast as Maurizio Sarri would like, with that further emphasised by the lack of goals - and a striker - up front.

It means that they’re having more difficulty than they would have imagined against bottom-half sides, as was the case against Crystal Palace, and as might be the case against Southampton on Wednesday.

While Ralph Hasenhuttl will be nowhere near as conservative as Roy Hodgson, Willian revealed it was something that played on Chelsea minds, as they tried to play through an amassed backline at Selhurst Park.

It took something Sarri would like more of for that 1-0 win: a sudden break into space from N’Golo Kante, and a bit of variation in pass from David Luiz.

“They stayed with 11 players behind the ball and sometimes we don't have space, we have to move the ball quickly to find spaces,” Willian said. “Sometimes it's difficult. For example, the goal we scored was like that. N'Golo goes into the space and David did a great pass.

“David has a lot of quality to do these kind of passes. Today wasn't the first time. He tried a lot a couple of games ago. He had success and we scored a goal.”

That is perhaps the primary issue going into the January window: scoring, and attacking. Sarri has stated his new preference is to play Eden Hazard as the main forward, and Willian said it is very different to when Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud play there.

“We have a lot of good players who we can play there in front. When we play Giroud or Morata, it's different to playing Hazard, for example, there. Giroud and Morata they stay more there, to be like a pivot in front of their defence. We know how to play in both situations, so we just have to continue to win.”

While there will be a lot of speculation about who Chelsea bring in, Willian emphasised there should be none about his potential exit. His contract runs out in 2020, but he wants to stay.

“I'm fine, I'm fine. No rush about that. We can talk about that in the future, no problem.”