With less than a week remaining until the scheduled resumption of the Premier League, Chelsea are upping their preparations ahead of a clash against Aston Villa on June 21.
While the Blues sit three points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester United in the race for a Champions League spot, Chelsea may find themselves level with their nearest rivals by the time that they take to the pitch in the West Midlands.
On a positive note, having two more days of preparation increases the chances of N'Golo Kante being ready for the first fixture back after the Frenchman initially opted to continue with individual sessions, rather than make the transition to contact training, earlier this month.
However, Chelsea may be boosted by the return of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Reading on Wednesday after being absent all season due to a serious Achilles injury.
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The presence of the England international may be required with Frank Lampard's side following the meeting versus Villa with games against Manchester City and West Ham United respectively.
The magnitude of those fixtures, as well as the FA Cup quarter-final with Leicester City, means that Chelsea would have played four high-stakes fixtures by the time that they square off against Watford early next month.
An away double-header against Crystal Palace and Sheffield United follows, with the latter potentially having significant ramifications with regards to European qualification.
Chelsea will look to take advantage of a home meeting against relegation-threatened Norwich City with three games to go, but a visit to Anfield to square off against probable champions Liverpool is next on the agenda.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, who will still hope to be in the hunt for a European place, visit Stamford Bridge on the final day of the campaign.
Chelsea's remaining fixtures in full
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Aston Villa (a) - Sunday, June 21 at 4.15pm
Manchester City (h) - Thursday, June 25 at 8.15pm
West Ham United (a) - Wednesday, July 1 at 8.15pm
Watford (h) - TBC
Crystal Palace (a) - TBC
Sheffield United (a) - TBC
Norwich City (h) - TBC
Liverpool (a) - TBC
Wolverhampton Wanderers (h) - TBC
All times are BST
Darren Plant
