At the end of Wednesday evening's pulsating 2-2 draw in Valencia, some Chelsea players hit the deck. They were exhausted, the back and forth of the game taking a significant physical toll.
Unfortunately for those nursing tired legs, there is no respite. Now they face three Premier League games in eight days, starting with West Ham United on Saturday afternoon, and rotation will be inevitable - especially in midfield.
Against Valencia and away to Manchester City, Frank Lampard went for the experience of N'Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic. In theory that trio should be the most defensively sound and while they individually played well at Mestalla chaos reigned around them.
Is it time to re-insert Mason Mount to the starting XI against West Ham? And if so who is most likely to fall out?
Here are the clearest options available to Lampard.
Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic (4-3-3)
This seems like the go-to for important away games and should offer an unconvincing defence more protection. But there aren't many goals in there - despite Kante and Kovacic finding the net against City and Valencia respectively.
West Ham have been in disarray and Saturday feels like a game where added attacking impetus may be the way forward. On top of that Jorginho and Kovacic have played a lot of minutes and will likely be given some sort of breather during this busy spell.
Kante, Jorginho, Mount (4-3-3 or Mount as a No10)
The most obvious alternative would be similar to the above but with Mount swapping in for Kovacic. The England midfielder offers a greater attacking output, which suits a home game against a defensively suspect opponent, and Kovacic has run himself into the ground of late.
Chelsea could also go one step further and use Mount as a No10 and have Kante and Jorginho behind him.
The double pivot may help solve the puzzle regarding Kante's best position - he has done well on the right of a three but has been unable to make as great a defensive impact when advancing forward more often. And it was clear that Valencia found it too easy to spot gaps, especially during the second half.
It is also worth factoring in that West Ham's Declan Rice has spent most of the campaign fire-fighting in Manuel Pellegrini's 4-1-4-1 system, with little support from those in front of him, and capitalising on that may be the key to three points.
Mount, Kante, Kovacic (4-3-3)
Only Cesar Azpilicueta and Mason Mount have played more minutes than Jorginho, who has also missed a game through suspension. The Italy international was a touch off the pace on Wednesday, conceding the penalty that Kepa saved from Dani Parejo, and uncharacteristically losing the ball in high pressure situations on a couple of occasions.
Resting him against Aston Villa would allow Kante to move into the holding role, with Mount and Kovacic afforded more freedom to push forward in an attempt to overload Rice.
Kante is fresher than the rest and back to full fitness so he seems the least likely to be given a break.
