Di Matteo raging at Premier League bosses

Chelsea and the Premier League seem to have been at loggerheads all year since the Anthon Ferdinand incident, and the Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo is now extremely annoyed that the Blues have not been allowed to cancel their League match against Sunderland ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Japan for the World Club Championship.

Di Matteo raged: ‘We are very happy to go to Japan and we have tried to postpone the Sunderland game to give us the best chance but the Premier League didn’t agree to it,’ .

‘That certainly could put strain on the players because we are only going to arrive three days before our first game in Japan. We would have liked to go a few days earlier so the players are adjusted to the new time zone. Travelling there with a nine-hour time difference, you want to do everything in your power to be ready for those games. It is a big injury risk as well.

‘You would think the Premier League would have every interest in making sure they give you the best chance of being successful in Japan, which would reflect very well on English football and the Premier League so I am very surprised about it, I can’t get my head round it.

‘The fixture list is obviously very full but where there is a will there is a way. You see all the other confederations trying to help their teams to do well in Europe. We talked about this last season as well.’

In fact the two teams playing for the right to face Chelsea in the semi-final, Ulsan Hyundai from South Korea and Mexican side Monterrey will be playing the day after Chelsea play Sunderland, and really Di Matteo should be at the game to get an idea of how their opponents play, but instead they will still be travelling!

Premier League clubs have often been accused of not taking the competition seriously, but as usual Chelsea play to win every tournament they are in, as Di Matteo said: “Maybe in England it is not regarded as so but you speak to the South Americans, the Asians and everybody that is involved and it is a massive competition. Winning that trophy means the world.

‘It is a trophy we don’t have in our cabinet and we desperately want to bring it to Stamford Bridge.’

That is a very silly decision by the Premier League…..