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While injury and fatigue issues have contributed to Chelsea picking up just one point in the Premier League in September, this is simply too unique a situation to predict how things will turn out. It may be useful to keep a watchful eye on PSG, though, as Luis Enrique’s side also reached the Club World Cup final alongside Chelsea and have seen similar injury issues to key players so far this season.<\/p>\n
“This is the first year that we\u2019ve had the type of elongation we\u2019ve seen from the Club World Cup in its new format, so we\u2019ll have to wait and see how it shakes out,” Smith says.<\/p>\n
“Traditionally in the Premier League we see a higher number of injuries in the opening weeks because players are acclimatising back into the demands of the game. We generally see that reduce back to a \u201cnormal\u201d level following the first three, four weeks of the season. Following that, historically, we have seen an increase in the number of injuries as we go through the winter schedule, presumably because of the amount of congestion during that period.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n