The Premier League has announced its fixture schedule for the busy Christmas period and a number of Chelsea matches have been moved around.
Up first is the game against Leeds United on December 5, which has been moved to an 8pm start from 3pm. That gives Frank Lampard a crucial few more hours to prepare his side after their midweek trip to Sevilla in the Champions League three days before.
On December 12, the Blues’ trip to Everton will be shown live on Sky Sports and that is now an 8pm kick off as well.
The clash with Wolves on December 15 at Molineux has been switched to a 6pm kick off and will be shown on Amazon Prime.
Chelsea’s Boxing Day derby against Arsenal remains on the 26th but will now be a 5.30pm kick off, shown live on Sky Sports.
Finally, three days later, Chelsea will host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge at 5.30pm on Amazon Prime.
There could be up to 2000 fans in place for Chelsea’s home games across December after London was placed into Tier 2 of coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends on December 2.
Lampard has previously mentioned how club's have to be careful with the number of games threy are currently playing and with a packed December on the cards, rotation could be crucial.
The manager said earlier this month: ‘I’m concerned because you can see the muscle injuries are going up across the Premier League. The numbers are there if people want to go and look at them closely so it’s clear.
"There’s a correlation between game after game after game, zero pre-season, the schedule being tighter – it’s just common sense."
