Mauricio Pochettino has asked the Premier League for help - warning that Tottenham's punishing schedule is not fair Mauricio Pochettino has asked the Premier League for help - warning that Tottenham's punishing schedule is not fair

Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino has called on the Premier League to help teams travelling long distances for midweek European games.

Spurs face a 12-hour round trip to Qarabag in Azerbaijan for a Europa League Group J fixture on Thursday, and then play Chelsea in the league at midday on Sunday.

Pochettino insists it is "not fair" for Chelsea to have two extra days of recovery - a part of a player's life he considers of the utmost importance - and the Argentine wants to hold talks with the Premier League about rearranging fixtures from next season.

He told Sky Sports News HQ: "To be fair, you need to compete in every competition with the same conditions as the opponent.

"I am not complaining. I only want to translate our feeling. I only want to bring attention to the conditions, that it's not fair to have two days less recovery than the opponent.

"My question is; why not be attentive and careful to try to help the team who needs to compete in Europe? It's difficult because we need to manage a lot of things. We need to be clinical in how we assess our players because the jetlag is very important.

Tottenham are unbeaten in the Premier League since the opening day and top of their Europa League group

"Why not play on the Monday, or 4pm on Sunday, instead of 12pm? It's not much of a gap but in four hours you can rest a little bit more, you can sleep and recover after the long flight.

"Chelsea has two days more to recover. They play Tuesday, we play Thursday, and I think Jose Mourinho will agree that he has a little advantage to prepare for the game. But it's not an excuse not to compete on Sunday and try to win the game."

Tottenham have struggled in past seasons to reach their peak after a Thursday night venture into Europe, but they appear to have arrested the issue this term and thrashed Bournemouth 5-1 after their last trip.

Kyle Walker (right) is one of three players left at home to be rested by Spurs, as well as Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele

Pochettino is resting full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, as well as Mousa Dembele, for Qarabag tie, while Nabil Bentaleb and Erik Lamela are not fit to travel either.

And Pochettino said: "In the future, the Premier League needs to give us more help and be more careful for them. I think next season, maybe we need to be careful, with better communication, and get help from the Premier League when the team plays in the Europa League.

"In the end we need to accept it and not complain too much because in the beginning of the season I think we all agreed to give the purity for the matches to be shown on TV. But I think it's more important to give attention to the teams that play in Europe."