LONDON -- There will be a warm greeting at Stamford Bridge on Saturday between Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri and Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, two men who share one of the Premier League's unlikelier friendships.
The pair have been on good terms ever since the 2014-15 season when Howe, in the process of leading Bournemouth to the Championship title, asked to visit the emerging Sarri at newly-promoted Empoli and observe his methods in training.
"I asked him why Empoli, and he told me he was studying all the little clubs in Italy and France at the time, in that period, and he was impressed with Empoli," Sarri said.