This pre-season won't be like any other in recent memory for Chelsea. It was not too long ago that we were enjoying seeing the Blues lift the Club World Cup. After a well-earned break, they have returned to training now. The issue is, the start of the new Premier League campaign is a little over a week away.
Chelsea have not even played their first pre-season game yet. That's how short of a gap there remains between now and competitive Premier League football.
It will be very interesting to see how the players respond to that short of a pre-season and whether they are up for it at the start of the campaign. The mood around Chelsea is brilliant right now but a bad start to the Premier League season, and familiar questions will crop up very soon.
Chelsea have been handed a major injury worry as well. It looks like Levi Colwill has been injured in training and the extent of it is unclear. As reported by West London Sport, Enzo Maresca said:
"We had a problem the last two days with Levi Colwill and we don’t know how long he’s going to be out.
“It was the first session on Monday. Just in the last minutes of the session, he felt something.
“Hopefully not too long, but for sure it’s a problem for us."
Enzo Maresca confirms key Chelsea player's injury in pre-season
Colwill is a nailed-on starter for Chelsea and arguably the club's best centre-back. So, any injury to him would come as a major blow to Maresca's plans.
Chelsea do have options in defence. Perhaps a combination of Tosin Adarabioyo and Trevoh Chalobah could work in the absence of Colwill. But even then, one can only hope that it is a short-term issue and he will be back on the pitch as soon as possible. It is hard to judge anything from Maresca's comments.
One cannot forget the recent addition, Jorrel Hato, either. Of course, he needs time to settle. But if the situation calls for it, this could be a good opportunity to give him a run at centre-back and see how he does there, although most believe that he will be more suited to playing at left-back in the Premier League.
As for Colwill, we wish him the best. Hopefully, this is not a serious injury and he will be back to full fitness very soon.