Antonio Conte says he might have to make changes for Chelsea’s Premier League game against title rivals Manchester City in order to avoid his players being fatigued.
Chelsea’s dramatic Champions League victory away to Atletico Madrid came 24 hours after City played at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Conte’s squad arrived back in London in the early hours of Thursday and effectively have only Friday to prepare for the City game.
The Blues boss is unhappy that Saturday’s vital match has not been put back to Sunday.
And Conte plans to assess his players to see if he needs to make changes for the game at Stamford Bridge.
“I want to check and then on Friday before the game,” he explained.
“You lose a lot of energy, physically and mentally. I want to speak with everyone and then to make the best decision.
“To have only one day is not right. I am surprised that we play the big game on Saturday and not Sunday. But we want to be ready and we want to face this game.
“Now for us it is important to rest and recover very well. We don’t have a lot of time.”
David Luiz, who featured in the Atletico game, is serving a domestic suspension so is unavailable against City, while Danny Drinkwater remains sidelined with a calf problem.
This post was last modified on 30/09/2017