Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp questions Chelsea and Antonio Conte's fixture scheduling complaints
Klopp noted that the fixture computer has been kind to Chelsea over Christmas
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Your support makes all the difference.Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has reminded Antonio Conte that Chelsea will benefit from a kind Christmas period this year after his counterpart's complaints about fixture scheduling.
The two teams meet at Anfield in Saturday's evening kick-off, with Chelsea taking to the pitch less than 72 hours after returning from a 6,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan's FK Qarabag in the Champions League.
Conte criticised the Premier League's scheduling of Chelsea's trip to Merseyside earlier this week. “To have only one day to rest and only one day to prepare this big game is not simple, is not easy. I think also it's not right,” he said.
Klopp has sympathy with the Italian but noted that Chelsea will benefit from a gentler Christmas period than Liverpool, just as they did on their way to winning the Premier League title last season.
“I really get what Antonio is talking about, I heard about it, but maybe he forgot they had the best Christmas schedule last year,” Klopp said on Friday.
“Everyone played every two days and they had 12 days to play three games. It is the same situation this year and I don’t know how the Premier League will explain this.”
Contrary to Klopp's claim, Chelsea actually played three games in nine days over the holidays last year but did enjoy more rest days between fixtures than their rivals. Liverpool, meanwhile, played three times over the course of just six days during the same period.
This year, each top-flight club will play four matches at some point between 22 December and 3 January – Liverpool play their games in the space of 10 days, with a total of seven rest days; Chelsea will play theirs in the space of 11 days, with eight rest days in total.
Klopp added: “Now they have one day less [before Saturday's match at Anfield]. I really think recovery for a team is very important and he is right, but it will not have influence on this game. Maybe the next one, that is possible.
“Now they are already back, they flew back to London and they have two days to recover and that is a normal situation.”
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