It’s a strange old season whichever way you look at it. A few years ago, it would have seemed incomprehensible that we would be in the middle of November, Abramovich no longer at the club, Graham Potter at the helm and the season halted for a World Cup. But this is where we are. Other factors aside, how will this forced break impact Chelsea, relative to those other teams all fighting for a top-four place, especially as the 2022 World Championships odds show that there is a very good chance several of the Chelsea team will be staying late into the tournament in Qatar?
There will be 135 players who ply their trade in England’s top tier in Qatar. 12 of those will be from Chelsea, the third biggest representation in the Premier League behind Manchester City (16) and Manchester United (14). Tottenham and Arsenal will have 11 and 10 players away respectively, Brighton 8 and Liverpool just 7. Surprisingly, Newcastle will only be missing 5 players. Just for the record, the teams with the fewest players represented in the World Cup are Southampton, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, all with 3 players in Qatar.
Having such a huge number away for such a prolonged period is bound to have an effect on them and on the squad and its balance. Some of those players will be playing – a lot – others will just be warming the bench, or judging by the temperatures in the Middle East, trying to keep cool on the bench. Those players who remain at home will be rested, will be nursed back to fitness, and though they will no doubt be involved in some behind closed doors fixtures, will potentially lack match fitness come the restart.
12 Chelsea players were on the plane to Qatar.
Work on the training grounds will revolve to some extent around tactics, but it is hard to implement anything new with half the first team squad missing. There is the very real possibility that in the January fixtures, teams at the top half of the table will look very imbalanced, like when a manager brings in a raft of new players in August and struggles to integrate them.
Without a break, plus the intense nature of the World Cup, and the EPL prior to, and after the break, players could very well be extremely fatigued come the latter stages of this season, with the drop off in performance and the injuries that follow as a consequence.
Chelsea, like the other teams with large numbers at the tournament, will be hoping for different things from their players in the Middle East. For some, such as Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, the World Cup could be a way for those players to either get some minutes into their legs and/or play themselves into some semblance of form. The length of that list of what should be key players for the club shows what a season it has been so far.
On the other side of the coin there are players like the 38-year-old Thiago Silva who, though likely to be pivotal for Brazil, Chelsea fans will be desperate doesn’t play too much, too deep. And of course, there is the constant spectre of injuries.
In a season that has not started well, a break is not necessarily a bad thing. It gives the players, the manager, the club, a chance to reset and come back stronger after Christmas. There will be other clubs, Arsenal more than anyone, who will be looking at the enforced break as the worst thing that could have happened, so it is not all bad. It is likely, fingers crossed anyway, to be the only time this ever happens, so we should all sit back, watch what happens and try and enjoy it.
