The Blues are back at Stamford Bridge for our first outing in 13 days as we welcome the Green Army to south-west London for a fourth-round tie.

That most recent assignment, a 2-0 Premier League victory over Tottenham, was our 16th game in seven weeks at the end of a gruelling fixture schedule throughout December and January, which is why Thomas Tuchel decided to give his players not away on international duty a full seven days off last week to rest and recharge the batteries.

Rudiger spent his time off in Sierra Leone, reuniting with family and continuing his charitable work in the west African country through his foundation, while others took the opportunity to take a break in the sun.

‘It was a tough period but you know when you sign for this club how busy the schedule is,’ Rudiger reflects on the frenetic festive calendar.

‘A break is always good but for me personally, we could also have kept going if we needed to because you always have to be on your toes and ready.

‘Even with Covid-19 and everything, we kept playing and training every day so of course it was difficult but we survived.’

More than mere survival, Chelsea continue to fight for silverware on multiple fronts, with our latest FA Cup test followed by a trip to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup. Among all the trophies up for grabs in the final months of the campaign, that remains the elusive one missing from our collection.

After returning from the UAE, we are back in Champions League action with a last-16 tie against Lille before we finish February at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool.

With so much at stake on so many fronts, Rudiger has called for full focus from the dressing room, although he admits the energy and application has been positive since the players reunited at Cobham at the start of the week.

‘First of all, we have a job to do in the FA Cup against Plymouth, which we have to have full focus on and start very well,’ he added. ‘After that there’s the FIFA Club World Cup and we have to be on our toes for that as well.

‘Everyone had a good break so we are all fresh and you can see in training that everyone is motivated. We just have to keep going game by game trying to win all the time.’