Petr Cech takes aim at Premier League following the preponment of Chelsea vs Brighton
According to his column on the official club website, Chelsea technical advisor Petr Cech has urged the Premier League to think about the welfare of players following the rearrangement of the Brighton game.
The Blues are set to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup, following the UEFA Super Cup victory in mid-August. However, due to a postponement of the competition, it is scheduled to be played in February, causing the rearrangement of games against Arsenal and Brighton in the Premier League.
The league have since made the necessary rearrangements. But they have placed the game against the Seagulls on the 18th of January, just a couple of days after we face Man City in the league.
Technical advisor Petr Cech has now expressed his “disappointment” with the Premier League over this decision.
“Once again, we are extremely concerned about the welfare of our players in all of this. We are puzzled why Wednesday 19 January was not considered as an alternative date seeing as this would not compromise either team as we both play our next games the following Sunday 23 January.
“We are already fulfilling fixtures with depleted squads. As it stands, we have fulfilled all of our fixture commitments to date, despite not being able to start our desired starting 11 for some games over this period in which we have been playing two games a week. Scheduling us to play three games in seven days means the players’ welfare, fitness and wellbeing will be severely compromised.”
Petr Cech on the money
To put the congested fixture schedule into perspective, the Blues have been playing every three to four days since the start of September. The Champions League and the EFL Cup, coupled with the league games, has meant that Chelsea remains in contention to win six trophies this term. However, it will not be easy and given our injuries and Covid related absences of late, it appears to be a pyrrhic victory in the making.
The Premier League are doing very little to help us at the moment. We were not permitted a fixture reschedule even when seven of our first-team succumbed to Covid-19 in December, despite requesting one. To add to this, they have congested our schedule for January.
Playing Man City and Tottenham Hotspur in back-to-back weekends is a challenge in itself. Slotting in a match against Brighton just two days after playing the runaway champions does not help our case. Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante have recently tested positive for Covid-19, while Reece James and Ben Chilwell are facing lengthy spells on the sidelines.
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It is becoming harder and harder for our players to keep playing at a top level constantly. Regardless, unless some games get cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation of other clubs, we are set to play in five games over the next 15 days or so, starting with the FA Cup tie against Chesterfield on Saturday.
