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Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino: Antonio Conte and Chelsea learning difficulty of Champions League balance

Bongarts/Getty Images
Bongarts/Getty Images

Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham's rivals Chelsea are now beginning to realise the difficulty of balancing European football and a Premier League title challenge.

This week Blues manager Antonio Conte criticised the Premier League of having a lack of respect for English sides in Europe, with Chelsea making a 5,000 mile round trip to Azerbaijan before heading to Liverpool 72 hours later.

Having finished 10th in 2015-16, Conte had no European football to balance his side against as they won the title last year, and now Pochettino says his west London counterpart is beginning to feel the strain.

"Of course, now he’s feeling the same as we felt last season when you are a contender and competing in Europe - the Champions League and Europa League are the same, always it’s complicated," the Argentine said.

"I think if you take the Europa League like Arsenal when you’re always rotating the team and playing with a different team in the Premier League then maybe you can arrive fresh and be a contender in the Premier League.

"If you want to win the Europa League and the Premier League or the Champions League and the Premier League, you need to be right how you rotate and manage your squad."