Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said it was “not normal” for the player to make a 16-hour round trip to Kazakhstan for Thursday’s Conference League tie and then play on Sunday night against Brentford.
The Blues face an eight-hour flight of 3,700 miles (6,000 km) to Almaty, in the south of the country, where they will play Astana due to the renovation of their stadium in the Kazakh capital 600 miles away.
Chelsea will return to London on Friday morning, before preparing to face Brentford in the Premier League at 19:00 GMT on Sunday, with the Blues currently in second place, four points behind Liverpool.
“Eight hours [one way] Not a normal time [to travel] But we have to go there, we have to play and we want to try to do our best, and also think about the next game,” said Maresca, whose team leads the conference league table with four wins from four games. .
Chelsea faces a longer flight time because the plane needs to take a circuitous route away from conflict areas in Ukraine, Russia and Syria.
Temperatures are also expected to reach -11C, while the Premier League side will stay on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during their 18-hour stay in the Central Asian country, five hours ahead of GMT.
The Italian confirmed that a number of first-team players will rest during the trip, including English winger Noni Madueke, with Portuguese winger Pedro Neto suspended for Sunday’s match against Brentford.
Young players Ato Ambah, Shumira Mihyuka, Harrison McMahon, Kayden Wilson, Richard Olise (brother of Bayern Munich winger Michael) and Harrison Murray-Campbell are in the travel squad.
Young defender Josh Acheampong will “most likely start” on Thursday, with the 18-year-old academy graduate close to signing a new contract.
Star striker Cole Palmer, injured duo Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana and exiled Ben Chilwell are not registered for the UEFA third-tier competition.
44-year-old Italian Marisca added: “Those who will not participate tomorrow, first of all, will train, and they must train well.”
“You never know if we might need one of the players playing tomorrow on Sunday. Ideally, we’d prefer not to. We’ll land at 6am on a Friday and it’s not normal for someone, if they land at 6am on a Friday, to play.” Again on Sunday.”
“But if we need to [them to]They will make the effort.”
When asked about the cold, confirmed starter Axel Disasi said: “We just have to put on two pairs of gloves and be ready to compete in these conditions.
“We all know the conditions of these matches, eight hours of flight time and 11 hours below zero, so download some films to watch on the plane, and be ready to fight and retain first place.”
The Premier League allowed Chelsea to have a late kick-off time on Sunday due to the flight, which is why the Brentford match will start at 19:00 GMT.
