The past few weeks have been something of a roller-coaster for Chelsea, both on and off the football pitch.
From the highs of reaching the Carabao Cup final, alongside progressing in the FA Cup, to the lows of Romelu Lukaku's Sky Italia interview coupled with an injury crisis and a stuttering title challenge, there is never a dull moment in west London.
Amid numerous January transfer links with the window open for incomings at Stamford Bridge, Ross Barkley's future at the club has gone somewhat under the radar. The Evertonian is a player that could be moved on this month with the 12 cameo appearances he has made demonstrating his struggles to integrate into Thomas Tuchel's plans.
Amid the Burnley, Leeds United and Newcastle transfer talk, the 28-year-old's top professionalism has been on show once again with his hard work and application in recent training sessions, but it now seems a matter of time before we could see some real movement regarding the future of the midfielder.
Tuchel said prior to the Chesterfield FA Cup win: “We haven’t discussed it yet [a loan deal]. It depends what Ross wants and what possibilities there are and what makes sense. Let’s see. There’s always a chance it is not like it is the FA Cup and here’s your chance. There’s always a chance to make it onto the pitch, especially with a lot of COVID and injury cases.
“The situation has not changed, not for Ross, not for anybody else.”
Tuchel's hint at a Barkley exit may well please Chelsea fans, who participated in football.london's 'keep or sell' survey for December with a resounding 15,267 (87%) wanting to see the attacking midfielder move on this month, while 2,283 (13%) of supporters reckon he could prove a useful option still to have.
We will have to wait and see how it unfolds but regardless of what happens to Chelsea's number 18, the fans have unanimously agreed on what should happen to the quartet of Malang Sarr, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic.
On the latter two, they have both been linked to Barcelona but the Blues' injury crisis during the festive spell, coupled with the congested schedule, has allowed the pair opportunities to feature and try to make their mark - something they have struggled to do - with their Manchester City performances coming under severe scrutiny.
"We expected more from all our offensive players in the last match. I think we had enough offensive actions, transitions, to hurt Man City more than we did. If this answers your question, maybe not 100%, but he is included in our offensive component," Tuchel reflected ahead of Brighton in his press conference.
In spite of both Pulisic's and Ziyech's indifferent recent form when given opportunities, Chelsea fans seem to be taking a patient approach with the pair when deciding their futures in SW6.
On the American international, out of 17,580 Blues fans, 13,733 (78%) were in favour of seeing him stay and fight for his place in the frontline whilst only 3,847 supporters demanded to see Marina Granovskaia recoup some of the £58m she spent back in 2019 on the exciting Borussia Dortmund winger.
A similar trend was found with Ziyech with 11,736 (67%) fans who took part in football.london's survey wanting to see the Moroccan given more chances to work his magic in the Premier League. In comparison, 5,729 (33%) of supporters wanted to see the ex-Ajax man moved on in order for the next bunch of attacking talent to come into the club from abroad or even closer to home at Cobham.
Sarr was a player before the new year who was expected to leave for a Serie A loan at a club like AC Milan or Napoli before defensive issues arose amongst the Chelsea ranks at the back.
Andreas Christensen's Covid situation, coupled with Trevoh Chalobah's ongoing injury struggles, has allowed the Frenchmen a chance to show what he is all about, and he has certainly not disappointed with his calming and authoritative nature in a back three as a left-centre-back and as a left-back in a back-four system.
His performances against Man City and Spurs over two legs in different competitions respectively have certainly washed away any talks of a possible temporary exit for the free signing.
Nonetheless, when asked before these fixtures on what the club should do, keep or sell wise, 61% of fans predicted his superb performances as 10,676 wanted to see him stay, in comparison to 6,695 people who couldn't predict his future.
Finally, Loftus-Cheek is a player that is reportedly being lined up by Juventus as a possible replacement for the Arsenal-bound Arthur Melo with Tuchel recently coy on the links when asked about them ahead of the Man City loss.
He said: “We haven’t talked about it [loaning Loftus-Cheek out] but he has a lot of game time I would say, especially if you compared the last few years and this season.
"He has a lot to fight for here if we talk about Ruben and my personal opinion. Anyway, this will happen behind closed doors and when we have something to announce, we will announce."
Chelsea fans were not in the mood to help Arsenal in this situation with 11,994 (69%) of the sample not keen to relinquish the former Fulham man whilst only 5,475 people seeing no future for a player known to the fanbase as RLC.
