The Blues are scheduled to play Everton at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening, but their preparations have been badly hampered.
Chelsea has become the third Premier League team to be hit by positive Covid-19 testing, with three more key players contracting coronavirus at Stamford Bridge. The Blues’ match against Everton on Thursday is still scheduled to take place, but that might change following the delay of Tottenham’s and Manchester United’s matches.
Chelsea do not need to reschedule games at this point, as the games for Thomas Tuchel’s side are coming thick and fast across several tournaments.
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The current situation
The Blues have already seen Mateo Kovacic ruled out of their plans of late on the back of a positive Covid-19 test from the Croatia international midfielder.
Three more prominent players in west London have now been forced into self-isolation, leaving Tuchel short on options.
All of those set to sit out upcoming outings have been in contact with the rest of the Chelsea squad, with a full training session completed on Wednesday.
Tuchel was ready to include two of those players in his thoughts for a home date with Everton, but has seen his pre-match planning thrown into disarray.
The bigger picture
Kovacic was already set to sit out a meeting with the Toffees, alongside Ben Chilwell, who remains sidelined for a while with a knee injury.
N’Golo Kante is being eased back into the Blues fold, but the World Cup-winning midfielder is not yet ready to start and will only be fit enough to make the bench against Everton.
Tuchel is going to have to get creative in his selection, with there few opportunities for him to rest and rotate at present.
Chelsea are due to be back in Premier League action on Sunday against Wolves, before then taking on Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals prior to Christmas.
Boxing Day will be spent at Aston Villa, while Brighton are due at Stamford Bridge on December 29 and Liverpool on January 2.Article continues below
Chelsea will then open their FA Cup campaign in 2021-22, while the current holders of the Champions League crown have also had to slot the Club World Cup into their schedule for February.
There have been calls for English football to shut down for a short period of time until coronavirus case numbers start to fall, but there has been no word from the relevant authorities that such an approach will be taken as clubs up and down the country contend with hectic workloads.