When Jose Mourinho spoke of a "big month" after disposing of Levski Sofia on Tuesday he was not focusing on upcoming opposition. The Champions League is out of the way until February and with home games against Arsenal, Newcastle, Reading and Fulham among their six Premiership matches before New Year's Day the champions seem to have a relatively relaxing run.
But that tells only half the tale and the rest is a story with which they are hardly familiar. If Manchester United beat Manchester City on Saturday, Chelsea will have more than 24 hours to contemplate a nine-point gap between themselves and the Carling Cup holders at the top of the Premiership. Under Mourinho, Chelsea's players have grown accustomed to establishing Premiership primacy by Christmas.
"Sunday will be an enormously important match for us," said Michael Ballack of the Arsenal match. "You only have to look at the league table."
The German midfielder draws comfort from the extra day's rest afforded Chelsea, who were at home in their Champions League match while Arsenal had to travel back from Oporto in the early hours of this morning. But he does not underestimate last season's Champions League finalists.
"I'm a little surprised that they are that far behind in the league in terms of points so early on," he said. "They have a young and very good team who have played excellent stuff on occasions. At times they've failed to pick up the points . . . But when they come up against the big teams they show their class. We need to be careful."
But Chelsea's dominance of a Champions League group containing the European champions, Barcelona, and Werder Bremen has renewed confidence in the possibility of the west London club landing Europe's top prize.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, who scored his first senior goal for Chelsea on Tuesday, said: "I don't see why not, with the players we've got and the way we've been playing it's more than doable."
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