Chelsea: The day the Premier League was set to end

The last day of the 2019/2020 Premier League season was supposed to be 17 May. Chelsea is still waiting for things to close when everything reopens.

On 17 May, 2020, all of the Premier League clubs were expected to play at the exact same time. Liverpool would have surely won the title already. At least two clubs would have likely been relegated before the day. Others would have had safety or European spots. Many more would have nothing to play for and it would simply be one last day out before the summer.

That one last day out came much earlier. The last time Chelsea played a match was 8 March as they swept Everton aside to the tune of 4-0. The gap since is nearly as long as most summer breaks. The Blues are still waiting for their restart.

When play does resume, Chelsea has nine games left to play if the only thing that returns is the league. The FA Cup would add another match were it to resume as well. The Champions League will likely dip into next season at this point regardless, but Chelsea does have a game against Bayern to be played. By the time these matches are done, a new season will already be dawning. So what exactly does Chelsea have to look ahead to?

Chelsea’s remaining fixture list is Aston Villa (A), Manchester City (H), West Ham (A), Watford (H), Crystal Palace (A), Sheffield United (A), Norwich (H), Liverpool (A), and Wolverhampton (H). In the FA Cup the Blues still had an away trip to Leicester City in the quarterfinals.

Overall, that is not too bad of a schedule to have compressed. Even with matches at a World Cup pace, Chelsea has the squad depth to cope with a schedule that has its valleys and troughs. The club should be okay even with the home and away swings, especially if the matches are held in centralized, neutral locations.

But it will be a quick turnaround overall. A mini preseason will be followed by these nine matches. Assuming that takes about a month, that brings things into July. The players may get another two weeks or so off before they are right back into preseason for the 2020/2021 season. That may be even sooner depending on how UEFA wants to handle the lingering Champions League and Europa League matches while also juggling next year’s competition.

Next season may look just like a post World Cup season for every single player. Injuries will be on the rise and players will fade out sooner rather than later without the proper rotation. Clubs with deep squads, like Manchester City, will cope much better than clubs with thread bare rosters.

It will take some time for things to return to normal. With the continental international competitions next summer and the Qatar World Cup A: somehow still a thing and B: happening in the winter, it may be the summer of 2022 before the calendar can look normal once again.