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Chelsea’s Lampard provides his verdict on Premier League early kick-offs

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LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 07: Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge on November 07, 2020 in London, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Peter Cziborra -

As Premier League bounces back to action after the international break this weekend, Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard faces a serious issue.

Frank Lampard is concerned about his players ahead of Chelsea’s early kick-off on Saturday against Newcastle in the Premier League. He also said that the congested schedule might bring out a poor performance from clubs in the English top-flight. Right after the international break, Chelsea players will return back for club duty from different continents. However, Lampard is shocked to see that the League officials expect his players to carry out another journey right away.

In addition, the Blues have evidently lost five of their last seven visits to St. James’ Park. And now with the tight schedule, it will be difficult to improve the descending form away from home. Lampard states that the Premier League should make things easy for the players considering the major global crisis. Moreover, he mentioned that Chelsea has been training with only four first-team players over the past weeks. And the Londoners have an important Champions League fixture at Rennes next week.

“The majority of our squad have been traveling. Some are traveling just now, just landed now, they will travel again to fly up to Newcastle. They’ll travel back from Newcastle, they’ll fly to Rennes on Monday and they’ll fly back from Rennes,” Lampard said.

“When you look at the scheduling, for me it’s just a common sense factor of the broadcasters have never had as many slots as they have now. That 12:30 slot, how much does it need to be there?” Lampard asked.

“It’s absolutely not the optimum way to have players preparing for a Premier League game. Which is an incredible brand all around the world.

“You want the best of the brand. And it’s very difficult for us to prepare for this game anywhere near where we are preparing for our best. I want us to play to our best but it’s very difficult circumstances.”

Injury woes.

Injuries have tolled Chelsea from the beginning of the new season and Lampard is not content at all.

“I’m concerned because it’s across the Premier League. The injuries are going up. Muscle injuries are going up and the numbers are there if the Premier League want to look at them closely,” Lampard said.

“So it’s clear. It’s game after game after game, zero pre-season, the schedule is tighter, throughout the season there’ll be these really busy patches. And if we want to handle them the best we can, if we want to look after the players and get the product as well as we can. Change the time from 12:30.

“That’s not a difficult conversation for me to have. The number of things we changed due to Covid and Project Restart. And now in this season, we had to change because these are incredible times. Then we have to look for the best way to change it. So the answer is to stop talking and act upon it.”