Chelsea have suffered a number of injuries to key personnel amid an increasingly congested football calendar - Getty Images/Alex Pantling
Chelsea, Newcastle United, Manchester City and Arsenal are desperate to land a top-eight Champions League place and avoid the threat of a fixture pile-up that could see them play 32 games between this weekend and the March international break.
While Chelsea boosted their hopes of a top-eight finish in the Champions League group table and automatic qualification for the last 16 by beating Barcelona, the fates of Newcastle and City remain in the balance after they both lost.
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Chelsea and City have 10 points from their first five games, with Newcastle a point further back. Before their game against Bayern Munich, Arsenal have taken a maximum 12 points from four matches. Aston Villa finished eighth in last season’s Champions League table with 16 points.
_Table correct as of November 26_
All four clubs – Chelsea, City, Newcastle and Arsenal – are involved in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and should they progress to the semi-finals and miss out on the top eight in the Champions League table, they could have just one midweek off between now and the international break at the end of March.
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Playing in the Champions League play-off round and advancing to the last 16, plus the Carabao Cup semi-finals would leave each club facing a mammoth 32-game run should they also progress through the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup.
That is only six games short of an entire Premier League campaign squeezed into less than four months, which would put a severe strain on the squads of all four clubs.
Chelsea and City both played in the Club World Cup during the summer and have already suffered injuries this season. Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has made 102 changes to his starting XI across all competitions as he attempts to navigate the congested fixture list.
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Maresca has also been looking to rest players with his substitutions and managed to take off Pedro Neto and Reece James, both of whom have suffered injuries in their careers, before full time in the victory over Barcelona.
Chelsea players were given two days off after the Barcelona success to rest and recuperate ahead of another big game against Arsenal, who left key men Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice on for 90 minutes against Tottenham Hotspur despite winning 4-1.
Pep Guardiola, the City manager, made 10 changes to his starting line-up on Tuesday night, although the Spaniard admitted that was too many after his team fell to a 2-0 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen. In all competitions, City are second only to Chelsea in terms of the number of changes (77) Guardiola has made.
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Guardiola has made it clear that he likes to work with a relatively small squad, but that could be put to the ultimate test if City fail to secure a top-eight place in the Champions League and beat Brentford in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Arsenal have made the fifth-most changes across all competitions so far this season (71), while Eddie Howe, the Newcastle manager, has made 58, which is fewer than Brighton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and Brentford, all of whom have no European football.
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Chelsea are strong favourites to progress past Cardiff City in their Carabao Cup quarter-final, while holders Newcastle face Fulham and Arsenal entertain Crystal Palace in a match that has already been moved to December 23 because of the European fixture list.
The two-legged semi-finals of the Carabao Cup are scheduled to take place on the weeks commencing January 12 and February 2, while the last-32 two-legged play-off round of the Champions League takes place on February 17 and 18, and February 24 and 25. The two-legged last-16 is scheduled for March 10 and 11, and March 17 and 18.
City were knocked out of the Champions League in last season’s play-off round by Real Madrid, but were not involved in last season’s Carabao Cup semi-finals.
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The FA Cup third round is due to take place on and around January 10, with the fourth round Saturday scheduled for February 14 and the fifth round March 7. The final round of Premier League games before the March international break take place on March 21 and 22.
Chelsea, City and Newcastle cannot afford another defeat in their remaining three Champions League games if they want to be confident of finishing in the top eight. Chelsea face Atalanta away and Pafos at home, before travelling to Napoli. City go to Real Madrid and Bodo Glimt before hosting Galatasaray. Newcastle travel to Bayer Leverkusen and host PSV Eindhoven before visiting Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal can probably afford to lose one of their final three games and still finish in the top eight. Mikel Arteta’s side face Club Brugge, Inter Milan and Kairat.