Chelsea v Tottenham: Jose Mourinho vents his frustration at fixture scheduling - 'nobody tells me'

The match will be played on Saturday afternoon, but Mourinho can't understand why it's not on Sunday

Jose Mourinho is reported to be furious that off-the-record quotes were released by a French television channel (GETTY IMAGES)

Jose Mourinho cannot understand why Chelsea's fixture with Tottenham is taking place on Saturday rather than Sunday.

The televised Premier League meeting at Stamford Bridge will take place just three days after the majority of Chelsea's squad are in international action across the globe.

John Obi Mikel is due to play in the United States while Brazil quartet Oscar, David Luiz, Ramires and Willian are off to South Africa.

It comes after Mourinho questioned the scheduling of their recent game against Fulham. Before the west London derby Cottagers boss Felix Magath admitted his side had an advantage due to Chelsea having just returned from their Champions League tie against Galatasaray in Istanbul.

In the end, it played little part with Chelsea winning the match at Craven Cottage 3-1. However, Tottenham are likely to provide sterner opposition that the Premier League's bottom club and Mourinho is concerned.

"It is harder for them [the players] than for me, I sit on the bench. This week is going to be even worse [than last]," he told Chelsea TV.

"[The players are travelling to] South Africa, United States, Portugal for others. Okay, some England players will be at Wembley but it is still a match on Wednesday and we play on Saturday, which I don’t understand.

"We don't play Champions League next week and I don’t understand why we don’t play on Sunday. I want somebody to tell me that we play Saturday because of this and this and this but nobody tells me.

“Clearly, I don’t understand why we don’t play Tottenham on Sunday. Tottenham have a Europa League match on the [following] Thursday so they don’t need to play on Saturday. They also have a few players in the national teams, not just us.”

The match kicks off at 5.30pm on Saturday and will be screened on Sky Sports. This weekend's Premier League schedule has been badly affected by the FA Cup quarter-finals, with three fixtures being televised on Sunday.