Midfielder Cesc Fabregas will not feature against his former club due to a minor injury, but Sarri hopes he will be back in training next week despite describing it as “a very unusual injury”.
“He has a pain, not in the knee, [but] near the knee,” said Sarri.
Arsenal will be without Ainsley Maitland-Niles after he suffered a small fracture to his leg in last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City that could rule him out for up to two months.
Maitland-Niles played at left-back in that loss and is likely to be replaced by fit-again Nacho Monreal, with Danny Welbeck also back in training, but Sead Kolasinac (knee), Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) and Carl Jenkinson (ankle) are absent.
Here's your Chelsea team to take on Arsenal! ? #CHEARS pic.twitter.com/wvXW4bBv6J
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 18, 2018