Chelsea manager Antonio Conte began prepping his team for the next game on the flight home to London from Baku, after his side thrashed Qarabag FK 4-0 in the UEFA Champions League group stages tonight. That next opponent is Liverpool, in what is the Premier league’s biggest match this weekend.
Liverpool have an advantage of having played a night earlier and thus being granted an extra day of rest. However, Chelsea super star Eden Hazard doesn’t exactly see it that way. Hazard highlighted how he and his teammates were able to get a lot of rest, given that their Champions League tilt in mid-week was a laugher that allowed first team players to exit early.
Eden Hazard said to BT Sport about his early withdrawal from the match:
“Yeah we have a big game on Saturday, so some of the players can rest today or were on the bench. I came off, N’Golo too, so yeah it’s easy. So we only play 60-65 minutes and we’re ready for Saturday.”
Hazard left after 65 minutes while Kante was subbed off with 15 minutes left. Additionally, Marcos Alonso was substituted after 58 minutes. Also, Conte was able to rest Andreas Christensen (who has now supplanted David Luiz in a starting role for the time being), Tiemoue Bakayoko, Gary Cahill and Alvaro Morata.
On the flip side, Liverpool had to battle all the way through to extra time, having squandered a 3-0 lead at Sevilla, and finishing in a 3-3 draw.
Manager Jurgen Klopp said his team stopped playing football in the second half while left back Alberto Moreno said they came out half asleep in the second half.
Chelsea versus Liverpool at Anfield kicks off at 5:30 PM local Saturday.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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