Despite the early World Cup exits of Kai Havertz and Cesar Azpilicueta, Graham Potter still faces a major issue to bypass when he returns to Cobham. The Chelsea boss is currently working with a makeshift squad of previously injured, currently injured, youth, rotation and a sprinkle of first team players for a warm weather camp in Abu Dhabi.
The Blues face Aston Villa in a friendly on Sunday, but have no fit senior player to play at right-back and are still suffering from fitness and fatigue issues. This is without counting those that are still in Qatar for the World Cup or those that are soon to be back in Cobham.
There is no understanding of how players will react upon the resumption of club football, but it's something Potter will have to adjust to quickly. Out of those that went to the tournament, Havertz and Azpilicueta are the two so far to have been dumped out earlier than expected following the exits of Germany and Spain, respectively.
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Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy were part of the Senegal side that impressed during the tournament but were always facing a tough battle to win their group and avoid a tough match against England. Christian Pulisic is in a similar boat, and would have set-up a tie against Senegal had his side managed to top their group, but were unlikely to progress against Netherlands.
Havertz's Germany were left red faced as they went home in the group stage after losing to Japan in the opening fixture, whilst Azpilicueta's pain was Hakim Ziyech's gain as Spain lost to a valiant Morocco side on penalties, seeing them dumped out despite impressing at times in the group stage.
England's Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher are preparing to face France in the quarter-finals, while it is unclear whether Raheem Sterling - who returned to the UK after his house was broken into whilst away - will return to Qatar to rejoin his Three Lions teammates.
In essence, Potter will have maybe one more player available at this stage than he predicted, but even then it is too late to join up in Abu Dhabi. With their next Premier League fixture on December 27 against Bournemouth, preparation for the match is being made among uncertainty over just who, how and when things will become normal once more, whatever normal is in this season.
When they do return, Potter will have to factor in the physical and mental state of his players, and at this stage they have been amongst the most active Premier League clubs at the World Cup. In research conducted by OLBG, the Blues rank second for total minutes featured in by their players with 2,647. That equates to nearly 30 total matches played.
With 12 players taken to Qatar across the 32 countries, that's nearly two and a half 90 minutes per player, almost a whole group stage in effect. That number is second only to Manchester City's 3,768 minutes from 16 players. It is more than top four contenders Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United though, plus Arsenal but they are surely too far ahead in the league to be compared.
Tottenham, 2,632, and United, 2,620, both have close totals, evening things out slightly, but Liverpool have comfortably played less with just 1,374 across seven players, and that could be a big boost to their hopes in the second half of the season, posing a major challenge for Potter.
When it comes to average minutes played per player Chelsea are below Tottenham with 220, but still above Manchester United, 201, Liverpool, 196, and Arsenal, 162. This would hint that Potter's players will return and need more recovery, careful management and extra time to adjust to domestic football, but it's simply not known what the effects will be, plus there are still players in the competition.
On that front Chelsea are equal with Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal all with six players left, and have an advantage over the Red Devils and their neighbours, mamn City, both of whom still have 11 players left.
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