Antonio Conte Unhappy Chelsea Have to Face Man City So Soon After Champions League Travels

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is not best pleased with the scheduling of his team's next Premier League game so soon after playing in the Champions League, with the reigning champions due to face title rivals Manchester City on Saturday evening.

Among Conte's gripes are that City had the luxury of playing at home against Shakhtar Donetsk 24 hours earlier than Chelsea played away in Spain against Atletico Madrid.

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As a result of not returning home until the early hours of Thursday morning and having only Friday to train, the coach is worried preparation will be almost non-existent because he won't be able to judge which players have suitably recovered until just a few hours before the game.

"Now, for us, it's important to rest and try and recover very well but we don't have a lot of time," a disgruntled Conte is quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"Honestly, in this case we are a bit penalised and I think it's very important before taking a decision like this to analyse the different situations of the teams.

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"Don't forget, Manchester City played yesterday at home. We played tonight, away. For sure, we will return to London around 4am. 

"To have only one day to prepare for this type of game is not right. Honestly, I'm very surprised to see that this game we have to play on Saturday, not on Sunday. I don't understand why."

Chelsea won 2-1 in Madrid thanks to goals from Alvaro Morata, on his return to his home city, and Michy Batshuayi after earlier falling behind to an Antoine Griezmann penalty.

Given Conte's comments, there could be changes for the visit of City.

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"Maybe I'll wait until the end, one or two hours before we play," he explained.

"I need to speak to my players to understand very well their physical condition. In this type of game you lose a lot of physical and mental energy. For this reason, I want to speak with everyone and then make the best decision."