Fixture Congestion

I hope you're all enjoying the international break, because after September 10th, matches will be coming in hard and fast. Between the 11th and the 28th, there will be three Premier League matches, two Champions League games, and the League Cup third round tie against Newcastle. For those not counting, that's six matches in seventeen days, a little less than three days rest each.

West Ham United (A): Sep 11th

MSK Zilina (A): Sep 15th

Blackpool (H): Sep 19th

Newcastle (H): Sep 22nd

Manchester City (A): Sep 25th

Marseilles (H): Sep 28th

Chelsea have actually been incredibly lucky here. It would have been possible, for example, to visit Manchester United in between a game against Spurs at home and then Real Madrid coming to town. There are a lot of games, but most of them are just minutes to be eaten up - the only one that's really problematic is our trip up to City on the 25th. Personally, I'd like to see as many players rested as possible in the West Ham, Zilina, and Blackpool matches, as well as fielding a reserve team in the Carling Cup. Obviously, we can't jeopardise our chances of taking away three points in each of the first three fixtures, but we need to make sure the team is at relatively full fitness on the 25th. I'm glad I'm not Carlo; he's got to walk a fine line over the next few weeks. Does anybody have any suggestions on who to rest and when?