Thomas Tuchel has made no secret of the fact his Chelsea players have been pushed to their mental and physical limits over the past seven weeks.
Since the last international break in November, no Premier League club has been in action on more occasions across various competitions than the Blues. And that is with injuries to key players being sustained and positive Covid cases further reducing Tuchel's options.
Yet this week comes welcome respite for Tuchel and the majority of Chelsea's players, who have been given the opportunity to go away and switch off from the demands of the Blues' 2021/22 campaign.
"Not the injured players or the players coming back from injury but everybody else will be off," the Chelsea head coach confirmed ahead of the win against Tottenham.
"We tell them to be careful [when travelling]. All of them are fully aware of the situation. There will be recommendations but in the end, they are free citizens."
The Chelsea players afforded a break by Tuchel will not have to report back to Cobham until next week. The hope is the squad will be reinvigorated, that key figures will be fresh and ready to deliver further success during the second half of the season.
In February, the Blues could claim two trophies: the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates comes first before the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool at the end of the month.
There is also the return of the Champions League – Chelsea face Lille in the Round of 16 first leg on February 22 – in addition to Tuchel's side needing to consolidate their top-four spot in the Premier League.
Chelsea's schedule will not be any less hectic as a result; it's why Tuchel will need fresh bodies and minds in order to achieve further success. Yet there are two members of the first-team squad who will not get the opportunity to rest over the next fortnight.
Thiago Silva has played far more football than many expected this season – the 37-year-old has already made 26 appearances across all competitions – but will not have the chance to relax having been called up for international duty by Brazil.
The Selecao have two World Cup qualifiers to play against Ecuador and Paraguay, the second of which takes place three days before Chelsea face Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round.
Also jetting off to represent their country is Christian Pulisic, who has struggled to nail down a starting role under Tuchel in recent weeks.
The USMNT have three World Cup qualifiers to play against El Salvador, Canada and Honduras and should the 23-year-old feature in the latter fixture in the early hours of Thursday, February 3, he will almost certainly miss the Plymouth clash.
