Chelsea have been forced to expand the away dressing rooms at Stamford Bridge after complaints from rival clubs.

Liverpool and Brighton boss Graham Potter are understood to have moaned about the size of the facilities for visiting teams.

That has forced Chelsea into a revamp at Stamford Bridge to meet Premier League rules to comply with extra tough guidelines during Covid times.

Chelsea have increased the size of the away dressing room by knocking through into the press room at Stamford Bridge, making the media area smaller and giving opposition teams more space.

The home dressing room at Stamford Bridge has always been notorious for being larger and more luxurious than the away dressing room.

Liverpool set up in the away Stamford Bridge dressing room in March 2020 (
Image:
Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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But Premier League rules now state they have to be a certain size to help players and staff keep socially distanced in a confined space.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp missed this month’s trip to Chelsea after testing positive and his assistant Pep Lijnders took charge but then he tested positive the following week which also saw their Carabao Cup semi final with Arsenal called off.

They are understood to have complained about the size of the dressing room while Brighton also made a similar point.

The dressing room and tunnel area is so confined at Chelsea that during lockdown they had to move the away team had to change in a health club behind the Matthew Harding Stand.

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl also complained in October 2020 about the facilities.

Chelsea's home dressing room is palatial in comparison to the away one (
Image:
Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Hasenhuttl said: “We lose nearly three minutes. Down the stairs, up the stairs, I don’t know where. You want to coach, you want to reorganise the team. You have this time and they are struggling to go in this quick.”

But despite the Premier League relaxing rules in stadiums to let fans back in, it would seem that they have still been forced to clamp down on Chelsea.

Chelsea have previously seen ambitious plans for a complete redevelopment at Stamford Bridge met with frustrations and obstacles.

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