I wrote in this column last week I thought it might be beneficial for Chelsea to have this upcoming break for the World Cup, to give the manager time to take stock and plan in depth. I am feeling even more confident about that statement now after Newcastle. It has been a tough few weeks, and with such a tightly grouped bunch of teams in the Premier League, even a short run without wins massively affects the league position.

Two points from the last 15 available in the league has changed the entire outlook on the season. On the other hand, a short run of wins can propel you back up the table just as quickly, so there has to be a reset ready to go at the restart.

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When the team reassemble for the next games after Christmas against Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, they must be ready to blast out of those starting blocks. Hopefully we will have just about everyone available by then. A major question will be about the condition of the players after the trip to Qatar - there are a few Chelsea players over there, all hoping to be playing as long as possible.

The England contingent are the most obvious and the most numerous with Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling each capable of making a big impact in the tournament. There is a lot of pressure on each of them, but then you don’t complain about that as Reece James and Ben Chilwell would love to be sharing that pressure.

Had those two stayed fit they would have been shoo-ins for the England squad, which would have brought the total to 14 players from the current Chelsea squad at the tournament - and let’s not forget N’Golo Kante would have also been in the French squad had he managed to get fit in time, so that would have been 15 current Chelsea players there.

If that had happened then only Man City in the Premier League would have had more, with their 16 players on show. It is incredible when you look around the world, just how Premier League heavy the World Cup is. Flicking through the squads the other day, I was amazed to find that the Brazil squad has 12 players of the 26 going plying their trade in the Premier League, and that is without picking Firmino from Liverpool.

Thiago Silva is still likely to be one of, if not the classiest player in the tournament, which is exceptional considering he was in the Brazil squad for the 2010 competition and here he is gracing his fourth one. The one game that stood out above all the others he played, that I was actually at in a World Cup, was Brazil’s 2-1 defeat to Belgium in Kazan, Russia in 2018.

What an incredible Chelsea influence there was in that game in retrospect! Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Willian, as well as Thiago Silva, with Thorgan Hazard and Michy Batshuayi both on the bench.

This could be a feature of this competition again as it develops. There are plenty of Chelsea ‘old boys' playing for other countries, so there will be plenty of face-ups between them. Even just current Chelsea players up against their current team-mates could become a feature.

It is a weird feeling playing against your team-mates, but unsurprisingly as pros, we know how to ‘park’ that friendship for 90 minutes.

Don’t be surprised if and when Mason Mount comes up against Christian Pulisic in the 25 November game at the Al Bayt stadium neither player will hold back when the tackles have to fly in. Denis Zakaria will be delighted to get far enough up the field playing for Switzerland against Brazil to come face to face with Thiago Silva. Considering the effort Mateo Kovacic puts in to every game and the ground he covers, if Hakim Ziyech is on the field for Morocco when they meet, then they will meet!

The most obvious and likely clash will be when Spain face Germany and Cesar Azpilicueta could be spending a huge amount of time in the vicinity of Kai Havertz. There is no point in asking either of them to take it easy, they are passionate about playing for their countries.

I recall playing against team-mates myself in international games way back when. Kerry Dixon was in the England squad when I was in the Scotland team and I well recall my room-mate from my Everton days, Tony Cottee, playing up front for England wearing number 10 while I had the Scotland number seven shirt on my back.

Considering how average we were at tackling and how much TC hated chasing back, there was no chance of us injuring each other. In one of those Scotland v England games, I played against Glenn Hoddle and Ray Wilkins, two Chelsea legends, but if I am honest, I had to look that up.

This is the point, nice though it might sound that old mates meet up on these big stages, most of the time you totally blank it out and totally forget about it. You might see him in blue every weekend, but if he is wearing a different-coloured shirt this time, then for those 90-odd minutes he is no longer your friend.

We want everyone back safe and fit, and we certainly don’t want any ‘blue on blue’ injuries, but it is nothing more than the luck of the draw. They must be committed. The players will forget about possible injuries and for a while our lads might even be able to put the difficult time at Chelsea to the back of their minds.

As for me, when I arrive in Qatar and then turn up at the first of my 13 games, the opener on Sunday between Qatar and Ecuador, I will still be thinking of Chelsea. I will watch the games intently, but unlike others I will co-commentate on them too, though I know a lot of fans do that involuntarily as well! I will still have the time to contemplate who out there might be good enough to do a job for us.

If I see anything special I will be reporting back, giving you all a flavour of what it feels like to be there at the games. I have been to a load of World Cups all the way back to France 1998. They are all different and all wonderful in their own way. The one thing they have each had in common is that they have been surprising in some way. I can’t wait to get out there, see the surprises and then tell you all just what it’s like.