Chelsea face 16-hour round-trip to Kazakhstan before Premier League game on Sunday
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said it was “not normal” for a player to travel 16 hours to and from Kazakhstan for Thursday’s league game before playing against Brentford on Sunday night.
The Blues will need to travel 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) on an eight-hour flight to reach Almaty in the south of the country, where they will face Astana, as their home ground in the Kazakh capital is 600 miles away Under renovation.
Chelsea return to London on Friday morning before preparing to face Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday at 19:00 GMT, with the Blues currently in second place, four points behind Liverpool.
“Eight hours (one way) is not a normal (travel) time for a game, but we have to go there, we have to compete and we want to do our best while also thinking about the next game,” said Marey Ska’s side sit top of La Liga with four wins from four games.
Chelsea face extended flight times as the plane takes non-direct routes away from conflict zones in Ukraine, Russia and Syria.
Temperatures are expected to drop as low as -11C and the Premier League side will continue to use Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), five hours ahead of GMT, during their 18-hour stay in the Central Asian country.
The Italian confirmed that a number of first-team players will be rested for the trip, including England winger Noni Maduk, while Portugal winger Pedro Neto will be suspended for Sunday’s game against Brentford .
Youth players Ato Ampa, Shumaila Muhka, Harrison McMahon, Kayden Wilson, Richard Ollis (brother of Bayern Munich winger Michael) and Harrison Murray – Campbell is in the accompanying lineup.
Young defender Josh Acheampong “could start on Thursday”, with the 18-year-old academy graduate set to sign a new contract.
Star forward Cole Palmer, the injured Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana and the exiled Ben Chilwell are yet to register for UEFA third tier competition.
The 44-year-old Italian Maresca added: “Players who do not play tomorrow must first participate in training and must train well.”
“You never know if we will need one of the players tomorrow for Sunday’s game. Ideally, we don’t want to do that. We will land at 6 o’clock on Friday morning for one of them, if they play on Friday Landing at 6am, then it’s not normal to play again on Sunday.”
“But if we need (them), they’ll make the effort.”
Asked about the cold conditions, confirmed starter Axel Disasi said: “We just have to put on two pairs of gloves and be ready to play in these conditions.
“We all know the conditions for these races, the flight is eight hours, eleven o’clock below zero, so download some movies to watch on the plane and get ready to fight and keep first place.”
Due to this travel, the Premier League has allowed Chelsea a later kick-off time on Sunday, which is why the Brentford game will kick off at 19:00 GMT.
