Chelsea face West Ham on Monday in a Premier League clash crucial to their hopes of finishing in the top four – but then fly to meet Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League quarter final.
It is a tight turnaround, with only one full day’s preparation before they travel, that the Chelsea manager feels is unfair on his team – and last night he attacked the lack of help the Premier League give to English teams in Europe.
Chelsea earned over £30million in television fees last year, but Sarri feels that the cash means TV companies can dictate the schedule – and that is bad news for clubs in Europe.
The Chelsea manager, whose team need to beat West Ham to keep up their chase for a Champions League place next season, said: “I am not able to understand the Premier League’s decision.
“We go to Prague – as an English team. So I don’t understand why we have to play on Monday. It’s very strange.”
Chelsea did ask for the West Ham game to be switched, but Sarri said: “The answer was that in the Champions League, the English teams have only three days to prepare.
“It was easy to solve the problem. But this is the situation, so we have to adapt.
“The Premier League should help English teams involved in Europe more. They could have done more. In Italy, teams in Europe play on Friday. And teams in the Europa League who away from home, they can ask to play their next Serie A match on the following Monday.
“It is a Premier League decision. But they showed last season that they are able to sell English football the best way.”
And Sarri, who earns around £4.5 million a year, insisted: “I would not mind if my salary was less but the fixture list was better, because for me, the salary is not so important. It is important to have fun, for me. For me, it’s not work.
“It is different for the players. The Premier League is the best championship in the world. So we need to have very strong players.
“The Premier League was able to sell their rights the best way possible, so in England we are lucky. We can buy the best players in the world, we have the best championship in the world. So we have to accept that we have to play every three days.”
”We do have problems in that position because we only have Jorginho. Mateo Kovacic could become a very good central midfielder. He is only on loan here, but I would like him to stay.”
The Italian, who saw his side beat Brighton 3-0 on Wednesday, is set to bring Gonzalo Higuain back into his side and could make several changes with Thursday’s key European game in mind.
Probable team: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Barkley; Pedro, Higuain, Hazard.