Why is Astana vs Chelsea kicking off at 3.30pm?
Chelsea’s Conference League clash with Astana will kick off at a bizarre time in the UK.
The match is set to get underway at the Almaty Ortalyk Stadium at 8.30pm local time, which is 3.30pm in the UK.
Astana is five hours ahead of London – and with freak winter temperatures expected in Kazakhstan, the fixture cannot be played any later.
European games usually kick off at either 5.45pm or 8pm in the UK – but all of Astana’s home games in the Conference League took place at 3.30pm last season.
Chelsea face a quick turnaround of fixtures, with the Blues set to face Brentford at 7pm GMT on Sunday – and Maresca has hinted at several changes to his squad this evening.
The Italian said: “Some of them will be here and some of them will fly with us. More or less, we try to manage in the same way we have done before today.
“We have many young players, 17 players with us, and the rest will be here with us. Eight hours is not a normal time for a game, you know, but we have to go there, we have to play, try our best and thinking also about the next game.”
