Graham Potter has described the upcoming FIFA World Cup as a "massive elephant in the room" at Chelsea.
This campaign is really like no other with the international tournament happening mid-season rather than in the summer. So right now is an awkward time for managers and their players, with the World Cup on the horizon and the fear of injury bigger than ever.
However, Potter, who was speaking to the media ahead of Aston Villa vs Chelsea, has insisted it is not having an impact on his players' preparations in what is an extremely packed month for the Blues.
When asked if he was worried about his players having the World Cup in the back of their minds, Potter replied: "No, that hasn't been I don't think. Because I think you're talking about players that are at the top of their profession and they understand that the only way for them to achieve anything is to focus on the next day, focus on the next game.
"Of course they're human beings so we all know it's in the background but I don’t sense anything from a concern or affecting performance."
The Chelsea head coach was then asked whether he felt the need to speak to them about it. He said: "No, not in that regard. We're all aware. It's a massive elephant in the room.
"It is what it is and we have to deal with it but there are a lot of games and the boys need to play to be in a good condition because there's not that much time between the last game and the World Cup starting. It's not like they've got a load of time to build up. They need to, probably, hit that running so to speak and therefore playing games and playing well is good for them."
Chelsea players will be wary of what happened to Reece James on Tuesday, with the right-back limping off with a knee injury. football.london understands James is now in a race to be fit to represent England in the upcoming World Cup.
The early indicators were that the injury wasn't too serious. However, after undergoing further scans on Thursday, the extent of the problem came back worse than first feared.
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