Chelsea: Andreas Christensen’s recovery presents complicated challenge

Andreas Christensen had a very short stay with Denmark’s national team, who cited “fatigue” in sending him back to Chelsea before the first friendly. Managing his workload and recovery will be a major priority for Antonio Conte, unless he is prepared to let David Luiz bring the Blues over the line.

International breaks have a way of being costly for Chelsea FC. Denmark’s sense of precaution in sending Andreas Christensen home from national duty is a rare and refreshing move. Denmark manager Age Hareide called-up two other defenders, saying “We do not want to take any risks with him…[W]e are adequately covered in defence.”

If Antonio Conte has Andreas Christensen available for the eight remaining Premier League fixtures and two (hopefully three) FA Cup games, he should send Hareide a bottle of prosecco. Hareide’s athlete-centered – and club-considerate – decision may allow Conte to not rely on David Luiz for the run-in.

Conte and his staff will need to investigate and immediately address Christensen’s fatigue. Christensen’s appearances and playing time are on par with what he saw in his two years on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach. Last season, Christensen played in 43 games across four competitions for Gladbach: Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal (German domestic cup), Champions League and Europa League. The season before saw him in 39 games across the first three of those competitions.

Christensen is currently on 36 appearances for Chelsea in the Premier League, Champions League and both domestic cups. If he plays 90 minutes in all or most of the remaining games this season, he will be very close to last season’s total minutes.

The fatigue factor is very interesting, and points to the often-mocked but often-true element of the physicality of the Premier League. Bundesliga is a high-paced league, and Christensen had few problems adapting from Chelsea’s youth teams to the top-tier of German – and European – football. He played midweek games against Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla and Barcelona, and still featured on the weekends for Monchengladbach. But his first season in the Premier League is taking a heavy toll.

Another possible explanation could lie in the unsubstantiated grumblings earlier in the season about the intensity of Antonio Conte’s training. Christensen may be handling the increased intensity and physicality of match-days, but the accumulation of training could be pushing him over the edge.

One other possibility is that of mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue. Christensen had a difficult span in late February and early March. Individual mistakes cost Chelsea goals, notably in the home leg against Barcelona. He plays with the skill, composure and intelligence of a veteran, making it easy to forget he is still only 21 years old in his first full season at his parent club. He may need the time away to recover his thoughts and confidence to become his best self again.

Antonio Conte and his performance staff have little time to diagnose the cause and plot a new training and recovery programme. David Luiz has not played since the February 5 drubbing at Watford, and has played only four games in 2018. He fell out of favour long before then, and is currently floating around the injury list. Under no circumstances does Antonio Conte want to entrust a top-four finish and the FA Cup to Luiz.

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Conte’s other option would be starting Gary Cahill in the centre of the defence. Cahill is having a better 2018 than Luiz, but is fighting for his future at Chelsea. After the losses to Bournemouth and Watford, Conte started Cahill against the 18th place team, the 20th place team and a Championship side, but benched him against the Manchester clubs and Barcelona.

Cahill is much stronger on the left of the defence, where Antonio Rudiger currently reigns supreme. Cahill is capable in the centre, but he comes with a list of trade-offs that approaches Luiz’s. Both players would necessitate a significant shift in Chelsea’s defensive and midfield tactics to compensate for Christensen. And even then, Chelsea would be at the business end of their season without a key member of the best XI.

Then again, given Cahill’s history at Chelsea, he may come in, be a rock-solid central centre-back and earn his way back into Antonio Conte’s and Gareth Southgate’s starting XI. He has always exploited these opportunities before. Facing his biggest challenge yet, he could once more rise to the occasion.

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Chelsea have lost many more man-games to injury this season than last. The return to the Champions League explains some of that, but it does not explain Andreas Christensen’s absence. Antonio Conte’s run-in was never going to be easy. Now Conte needs to put one of his key players back together. Otherwise his fate may lay in untrusted hands.