Frank Lampard has appealed to the Premier League (EPL) to delay Chelsea’s start of the season, in order to allow his players sufficient recovery from the UEFA Champions League.

The new EPL campaign was originally due to begin on Saturday, 8 August. However, the football calendar was greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the start day to be rescheduled to Saturday, 12 September 2020.

Although most EPL clubs are already on holiday, the Blues are yet to face Bayern Munich on 8 August, in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie.

If Chelsea fail to win in Bavaria, then they would have 35 days before the new season begins. Should they make a remarkable comeback at the Allianz Arena and progress to reach the final, that gap drops to 20 days.

An unhappy Lampard has raised concerns about the fitness of his players – given that he lost two players to injury during the eve of the FA Cup final against Arsenal on Saturday, 1 August
– and another two during the game.

He said: “Even in a worst-case scenario, we don’t go through against Bayern, the 12th feels too early for me for the players to start playing again. The players need a break.”

He added: “I would like to think the Premier League would look seriously at that, and hopefully they give us a fair start next season.”

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