Given their recent form, Chelsea do not have the luxury of looking too far ahead. With Tottenham awaiting at the weekend the Blues find themselves with the pressure of a local derby as they bid to earn three points for just the second time in 10 matches.
Chelsea rarely taste defeat against the Lilywhites and have not done so since 2018. The Blues have recorded wins in each of the last three seasons away to their London rivals.
Pressure has built on Graham Potter following defeat to Southampton in their last Premier League outing, and the Blues boss has always maintained his mind is on the next match rather than prospect of qualifying for Europe later in the season. However, Potter did rotate against Ruben Selles' side to ensure future prospects and he will be pleased to see the return of key stars having rested them against the Saints to avoid injury.
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The game against Spurs followed by Leeds United and Borussia Dortmund could form a crucial period in which Potter can persuade a contingent of the fanbase that he is the correct person for the job. The Blues are 11 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham at the moment and if they reduce that gap while navigating to the next round of the Champions League, momentum will begin to change.
However, that period likely only sees Potter progress to another difficult period. Chelsea will face seven Premier League matches in April, just shy of 20% of their season as a whole, after their game against Liverpool was placed in the month.
Chelsea will take on Aston Villa, Liverpool, Wolves, Brighton, Manchester United, Brentford and Arsenal over the course of April, and if they prevail form the Champions League second leg against Borussia Dortmund they will have a further fixture for the quarter-final of the competition against Brighton.
The penultimate month of the season will bring back memories of a hectic October period for the Blues where their form crashed to a halt with defeat to Brighton. Injuries piled up and Chelsea found themselves settling towards midtable.
Potter's side are yet to beat a team above them in the table this season, which accounts for five fixtures they face in the month. It provides an opportunity to narrow the gaps that are present as well as demanding the side improves a great deal.
Such scheduling ensures that Chelsea's run until the next international break is crucial with some full weeks of training still remaining to allow Potter to get his message across to the players. The 47-year-old head coach will certainly have more bodies to help contend with a condensed scheduled in April but they will need to find some fluency before that point to be successful.
April schedule:
Chelsea vs Aston Villa - April 1st
Chelsea vs Liverpool - April 4th
Wolves vs Chelsea - April 8th
Possible Champions League quarter-final first leg - April 11/12th
Chelsea vs Brighton - April 15th
Possible Champions League quarter-final second leg - April 18/19th
Manchester United vs Chelsea - April 22nd
Chelsea vs Brentford - April 26th
Arsenal vs Chelsea - April 29th
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