Frank Lampard has several questions to ponder before the start of an important stretch, with Saturday’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers followed by their Champions League opener at home to Valencia and Liverpool visiting Stamford Bridge on Sunday week.
Having played quite well in parts only to win just one of fives games before the international break there is now pressure on results to improve.
Here are the Chelsea head coach’s key decisions before heading to Molineux on Saturday.
Evaluate the internationals’ fatigue
Several important players - Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante and Tammy Abraham - have remained at Cobham for the international break but others will not be rejoining their clubmates until Wednesday or Thursday.
In particular there may be a temptation to give Christian Pulisic some extra rest considering he will be involved for the United States against Uruguay in the early hours of Wednesday morning. That game is taking place in St Louis, six time zones away, and he also played in the heavy defeat to Mexico in New York on Friday.
Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud are likely to feature for France in their Euro 2020 qualifier against Andorra on Tuesday night, while Ross Barkley and Mason Mount will not have far to travel as England’s game against Kosovo is being played in Southampton.
Others were able to return earlier. On Sunday evening Jorginho scored Italy’s winning goal from the penalty spot and Emerson Palmieri limped off in the opening minutes of the Azzurri’s 2-1 away to Finland.
Andreas Christensen was also able to clock off early because Denmark played their second game, a scoreless draw away to Georgia, on Sunday, while Kepa Arrizabalaga was an unused substitute for Spain against Faroe Islands having started against Romania.
Work on second-half concentration
This was Chelsea’s biggest problem before the international break. Having started games well, focus has slipped later on and cost the team points - most unforgivably in the 2-2 draw against Sheffield United.
Lampard has said that it is the team’s collective responsibility and would not blame any individual components of the Premier League’s second most leakiest defence.
But ensuring that they can maintain their concentration for an entire game will have been a big part of his work during the break, something that those returning will also have drilled into them over the next couple of days.
It cannot continue. Otherwise a top-four place could quickly become unattainable.
Who starts at left back?
Emerson, so impressive in an otherwise shaky defence during the early weeks of the campaign, tweaked a hamstring against Finland but has said that the injury is not serious.
It is unclear whether he will be fit for Wolves, though, and at the beginning of such a busy period his workload will need to be managed.
If not available, Marcos Alonso will return to the starting XI, with 17-year-old Ian Maatsen held in reserve.
Decide if Rudiger and Kante are ready
The return of both Rudiger and Kante should cure a lot of those defensive issues but, similar to Emerson, neither should be rushed back.
Rudiger has made a couple of appearances for the Under-23s and has been training fully for several weeks but his last first-team appearance was in late April, when he injured a knee away to Manchester United.
He is undoubtedly Chelsea’s best centre back but will require some time to regain sharpness.
Kante, meanwhile, has had knee and ankle issues that are considered minor but have been slow to shift. Lampard spoke two weeks ago about the need for him to rest after four years without a proper break and this international block will have rejuvenated him somewhat.
It would be unrealistic to expect both are capable of playing every minute of three games in eight days.
Keep one eye on Valencia
The La Liga side have had a mixed start to their own campaign and manager Marcelino is under a little bit of pressure following one win from their opening three fixtures.
His team play Barcelona in a tasty fixture on Saturday evening and Chelsea’s backroom staff will be paying very close attention before next Tuesday’s meeting at Stamford Bridge.
