It has been said frequently that this is a season like no other due to the scheduling of the World Cup.

We are in the final days of the first half of the domestic season before those called up for international duty depart, but looking further ahead, Graham Potter has admitted it is hard to know exactly what the return to Chelsea will be like given the close proximity of the final in Qatar to the resumption of football here.

The showpiece decider is on 18 December and depending on tonight’s result at Man City, Chelsea could be back in Carabao Cup action on 20 or 21 December, with our Premier League campaign restarting on 27 December.

Thiago Silva has already been named in Brazil’s squad (as if there was any doubt!) and with more Blues’ participation likely to be confirmed in the coming days, Potter will be following their progress over the month of the tournament to see who reaches the latter stages.

He considers the hypothetical but certainly not impossible scenario that one of his players lifts the famous gold trophy.

‘Honestly, it's hard for me to say I know what the motivation of another human being will be after something like the World Cup,’ he says, ‘and can a player even celebrate back in his own country after they've won the World Cup [this time]?

‘That's the challenge with having the World Cup in the middle [of the season] because the alternative is they don't go and celebrate winning the World Cup – and by the way, you've just won the World Cup! – and instead you come back here and then you've got training, and it is so difficult because they have just played the game and then they've got to recover emotionally. How long does it take to recover from a World Cup final?’

Of course after the usual June/July World Cups, players at European clubs have several weeks off before domestic duty resumes.

‘Most people who win it probably celebrate for two or three weeks on open-top buses everywhere, and then they need probably a three-week holiday to get over that celebration!’ Potter laughs.

‘So as a coach this time you are just reacting to whatever's thrown at you really, because it's not like you can prepare for it. Who's going to be in the final?

‘And if you've lost the World Cup final, how long does it take to get over that?’ he asks. ‘Probably not only three or four days.’