Chelsea No2 Gianfranco Zola admits he's been surprised by how good a manager Maurizio Sarri is.

Zola admits there is even more to Sarri's coaching and preparation than he imagined. As a consequence, he is learning a lot.

"If you go back to my story, I started [management] like crazy," Zola points out. "I went straight away in the Premier League with West Ham which went well, but I think I was missing a lot of things in management. Now I think I am catching up with this experience, and I very proud because Maurizio's work is quite hot.

"I knew he was good but I did not expect him to be that good. I have seen very few coaches that work so detailed and so much on the games and on everything he does. What you see on the pitch is a result of huge work behind it, which he does mainly but also the whole team around him does. The players most of the time when they go on the pitch, they know everything they have to do on the pitch and it becomes easier for them to play.

"Everyone in his coaching staff works a lot, it has been quite an experience but the more you work, the more energy you find to work."