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Chelsea face Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday evening at Stamford Bridge
The Blues won 4-3 at Tottenham Hotspur after coming from 2-0 to win in North London. That result saw them move closer to Liverpool, whose Premier League clash against Everton was postponed due to extreme weather and concerns over supporter safety.
On Thursday, Chelsea were in action in the UEFA Europa Conference League in Kazakhstan against Astana. It was an eight-hour trip to the Asian country, which is five hours ahead of GMT. Maersca took a young travelling squad as a number of players were rested for the clash with Brentford.
Why does Chelsea v Brentford kick off at 7pm?
Normally when a Premier League team is playing in Europe on a Thursday, their scheduled league game will be moved to 2pm on a Sunday. In other cases, like Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, the game can be moved to later in the evening in order to be broadcast on television. TNT Sports will show Spurs’ trip to Southampton at 7pm on Sunday in order to avoid clashing with the 2pm and 4.30pm fixtures selected for broadcast by Sky Sports. TNT Sports normally has the 12.30pm slot on a Saturday but Spurs will not play in that slot having played Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday.
However, Chelsea’s late kick-off is not down to accommodating broadcasting demands but rather the sheer length of Thursday’s away trip. The Blues had to travel 3,700 miles to reach their destination. The game is being played in Almaty, 600 miles away from Astana due to renovation works at the club’s home stadium. The flight time is longer than usual as the plane needs to fly around conflict zones in Ukraine, Russia and Syria.
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"Eight hours [one way] is not a normal time [to travel] for a game, but we have to go there, we have to play and we want to try to do our best, thinking also about the next game," said Maresca ahead of the game which Chelsea won 3-1.
Given the away trip will involve a 16-hour round trip, the Premier League has sanctioned a later kick off for Chelsea rather than requiring the Blues start their home game with Brentford at 2pm. Maresca was still able to rest a number of players with Noni Madueke not travelling while Cole Palmer is not registered for the competition so will be rested for every European game until the knockout phase, when Chelsea will get the chance to submit a new registered squad to UEFA. Injured duo Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana are also not registered.
After the game, former Chelsea player Joe Cole said: “It was a professional performance from Chelsea in the second half to see the game out. A lot of young players got the minutes which will be invaluable for them. The Chelsea players have gone to applaud the fans who have made the trip. They will now want to get on that plane, make it home and start preparing for Brentford on Sunday.”
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