No European football advantage for Chelsea, Liverpool: Rodgers

Reuters: Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes a lack of European football will be an advantage for the club in the Premier League and the same will be the case for Chelsea.

Liverpool, who replaced Rodgers with Jurgen Klopp as the club’s manager in October, lost the Europa League final to Sevilla in May and settled for an eighth-place finish in the Premier League.

Chelsea, the 2014-15 league champions, endured a turbulent season last term and finished 10th in the table.

“I think Liverpool have a great chance this year,” Celtic manager Rodgers, whose side suffered an embarrassing defeat to part-timers Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar in the first-leg of their Champions League qualifier, told talkSPORT.

“Liverpool and Chelsea don’t have European football and that’s a huge advantage for you, where you can prepare your team all week for just the one game every week.

“Of course, you’ll have domestic cup games in between that.”

“But it will be very competitive with the coaches that have come into the Premier League, that makes it exciting and I’m sure it’ll be a fantastic season,” added Rodgers.

Liverpool open their 2016-17 campaign against last season’s runner-up Arsenal on 14 August, while new Chelsea boss Antonio Conte will mark his managerial career in England with a feisty London derby against West Ham United two days later.