On the back of their European high this week, Chelsea take on a rampant Manchester City – and the timing may be more in the Blues' favour than Antonio Conte admits.
The Italian was having none of that of course, on Wednesday night in Madrid, when he complained of the fixture congestion his side were about to face.
Having dominated Atletico in their impressive new home, the first English side ever to beat Los Rojiblancos in Madrid, the Conte went on for some time about the injustices his side were about to face.
City, who had dispatched the far less troubling prospect of Shakhtar Donetsk at The Etihad on Tuesday, therefore had effectively two days more preparation for the table-topping clash than Conte's charges.
But the news since, while pretty dreadful for Pep Guardiola's medical team, will have only given Chelsea extra hope.
City left back Benjamin Mendy's anterior cruciate ligament rupture – surely there is no more horrible injury in the game, and thoughts must be with him – will sideline the Frenchman for months.
Far more curious, though, was the incident involving Sergio Aguero in Amsterdam: the taxi in which he was travelling colliding with a street pole on the way back to Schiphol, the star having seen Colombian singer Maluma in concert.
Any who have seen the image of the crash, which was widely reported on Friday morning, will consider the Argentine forward to be fortunate to escape with merely a couple of cracked ribs.
Guardiola was last season forced to deny discipline problems in his camp, having copped two red cards late-on when these teams met in Manchester.
He will at least consider it very positive news that he has managed to get his players wearing seatbelts when they catch a cab.
So for Chelsea, who had been somewhat panicked by the absence of the suspended David Luiz, the playing field looks less stacked against them than it did only a few days ago.
Gary Cahill, often the focus of some fans' ire, was a defensive rock in Madrid (where Luiz lost his head, in giving away a silly penalty).
And Alvaro Morata, still not quite there fitness wise, combined brilliantly with the newly returned and unstoppable Eden Hazard.
City are scoring for fun right now – 21 goals in six Premier League games (compared with Chelsea's 12).
And they are defensively superior too: having conceded only two goals to Chelsea's five.
But these games are not played out on Opta stats, and that word 'discipline' is again likely to be one of the key deciding factors.
The most enduring spat between these two sides, that between Luiz ad Aguero, has been forcibly dropped from the under-card – so it will be up to the rest of the bunch to ignite the kindling.
Chelsea's own problems in this area this season are well known, and Conte could do with spending a portion of that limited prep time passing around the camomile tea.
The team that finishes with most players on the pitch should win this: Chelsea need to make sure that team is them.
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