Arsenal
Chelsea are by way of to the quarter finals of the Membership World Cup after an thrilling win over Benfica on Saturday night time, and so far as we will inform everybody is basically having fun with our summer time journey.
We’re seeing new gamers in motion, successful video games and incomes huge sums of cash to spend on transfers. It’s additionally filling the weeks we’d usually be itchily ready for soccer to return.
However as a lot as we’re having fun with our adventures in opposition to the world’s finest out within the USA, the true focus will quickly flip to the Premier League. No matter occurs in the remainder of the Membership World Cup, it’s already been a hit, particularly if we will navigate previous Palmeiras into the semi finals.
However how a lot will that success value us? Not solely are our gamers piling fatigue on prime of an exceptionally lengthy season simply gone, they’re additionally consuming into their vacation. They may begin the season in August after simply two friendlies which occur the week earlier than we open our season in opposition to Crystal Palace on the seventeenth of August.
Manchester Metropolis are with us within the USA, however our rivals are resting up. Video games like Chelsea v Spurs and Chelsea v Arsenal subsequent 12 months are going to be particularly fascinating on this context. The North London pair have all this time to arrange for the brand new season earlier than we play them in November.
In fact the worst factor that would occur now can be an harm to one of many gamers who’ve performed an insane variety of minutes since final August after we confronted Servette to kick off our Convention League marketing campaign. Prime of the checklist are Moises Caicedo and Marc Cucurella, who desperately want a really prolonged break. We’re praying they will make it to the top of this event with out an harm.
However even with out harm, the bodily and psychological fatigue we’re accumulating is sort of unprecedented at soccer of this degree. The truth that there’s a World Cup subsequent summer time (additionally within the roasting warmth of the USA our gamers are experiencing now) doesn’t even bear excited about.
We are able to nonetheless have a great season, however we don’t anticipate the kind of quick begin we had final 12 months. Enzo Maresca and his coaches and medical workers have their work lower out making an attempt to handle all this and ensure we arrive in our Premier League opener as rested as attainable, with out being undercooked.
