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Guus Hiddink 'astonished' by Chelsea's "tight schedule"

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink criticises the Football Association's scheduling of his side's FA Cup quarter-final tie against Everton.

Guus Hiddink has hit out at the Football Association for its decision to schedule Chelsea's FA Cup meeting against Everton 24 hours earlier than planned.

The Blues face a fixture pileup in the coming weeks, as they meet Stoke City and Norwich City in the Premier League, before taking on Paris Saint-Germain in Europe and Everton a few days later.

Chelsea's progression in the cup means that their meeting with Liverpool, initially scheduled for March 13, will now have to be rearranged for a later date.

Hiddink cites a hamstring injury picked up by Pedro less than seven minutes into his side's victory over Southampton as a key reason behind why more attention should be given to exactly when games are played.

"[Pedro] got a problem with his hamstring," he is quoted as saying by ITV Sport. "We'll see [what his diagnosis is]. We have a tight schedule - Norwich on Tuesday and then Stoke and PSG. Then, surprisingly, the Everton game was put on a Saturday instead of a Sunday.

"Normally we should have played Liverpool on the Sunday. I don't know who has decided that, all of a sudden. It was astonishing that people could change the kickoff time. We have PSG on Wednesday night. Hopefully it doesn't go into extra time.

"The players, not just Chelsea players, need time when the intensity of the league is like this. The medical people at the FA and the Premier League should make this known as well. We have to protect the players."

Chelsea secured their first back-to-back league wins of the season by edging out Southampton on Saturday, taking them up to 11th place in the table.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Bournemouth104331312115
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
11Brentford94141818013
12Fulham93331212012
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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