Happily all goes well in general according to the reports of our Chelsea stars on international duty at the moment. The African stars in particular have much to cheer about with Essien's Ghana, and the Ivory Coast featuring Kalou and Drogba all playing well and their countries either qualified or looking set fair for World Cup qualification.
So with Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley and Joe Cole along with Michael Ballack also looking dead certs for an exciting summer in South Africa, the club should be a cheery place when they all finally make their way back to the Cobham training ground. With any luck the rest of the international games this week will go just as well and vitally for Chelsea with no serious injuries to our lads.
This is now of course bordering on imperative with all that is hanging over the club at the moment. The African Cup of Nations was always something that every Chelsea fan has had in the back of his or her mind since the start of the season at least, with the certain loss of some of our key men for a month.
Serious as that is, along with the European bans still to be served after the extraordinary events in the Barcelona game last season, it all pales in contrast to the latest judgement to be handed down on the club from the governing bodies of the game.
The club is of course arguing vehemently against the severity of a two transfer window ban, but if in the fullness of time it must be served then it is impossible to imagine how it can be coped with.
If no signings can be made in January, I think with a fair wind and no injuries the squad can cope, but it will be horrendously tight with Kalou, Drogba, Essien and Mikel all missing for a month or so.
For me the bigger concern is actually the start of next season. If the squad cannot be strengthened in the summer, then all those above who will have had little or no rest at Fifa's World Cup, will be expected to keep going with absolutely no chance of a rest at any point. Squad rotation will be bordering on impossible for Ancelotti because there is nothing surer than the fact that some important Chelsea players will get injured at the World Cup and others will be jaded, if not down right exhausted, in the aftermath.
I wonder how Fifa would feel if some of these guys took it easy at the World Cup, or whisper it quietly, decided against going altogether in order to be faithful to the people who pay their wages week in week out? I think the tournament would be a considerably weakened event without a few of our best lads in it.
I doubt if that will happen, and sincerely hope it doesn't because international football is important not only to the sport, but to each country, its citizens and of course the players themselves who see it as the pinnacle of their careers, if of course they do well.
This is not the right time or the right forum to discuss the rights and wrongs of the 'tapping up question', but suffice to say that if Chelsea are found guilty and forced to serve the entire ban, I just hope the governing body has the intention of treating every club the same from now on and indeed retrospectively.
Looking further into the future I just hope two things do not happen. Firstly that Chelsea are forced to play players who are not fit and as such endanger their safety further because there are no available replacements.
The answer is of course that youngsters could be used in their place. That is all right up to a point, but if youngsters are thrown in too early out of necessity and they are not ready there are dangers for them too. They could struggle to get over disappointments if they do not perform well, but more than that if they are not physically ready, it could actually be dangerous for them to play against players as powerful as you come across in the Premier League.
What a shame it would be that if in the act of trying to safeguard the future of young players around the world, Fifa's actions actually led to the injuries of some youngsters from Chelsea.
Let's hope that does not come to pass, and that no players are injured, be they youngsters or international captains. Which I must admit is a dreadful link to last week's competition. I asked how many international captains are currently in the Chelsea squad?
As usual with these questions and the knowledge of you lot, there was a bit of debate about the right answer. Sheva (the Ukrainian skipper) had left within hours of me asking the question. And of course Essien captains Ghana when Appiah is not available, whilst Petr Cech has also been known to don the armband for his country on occasions.
The obvious ones which everyone got were of course John Terry, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba. The winner chosen at random turned out to be Chris Pearson from Colchester who got everything right, and he will receive his prize in the post soon.
Last week many of you sent in great questions, so this week I will use one sent by Shalom Ndiku, age 21, a Kenyan Chelsea fan studying in South Africa and a supporter of the Blues since 2003. No prize for him I am afraid but he does get his name on the official Chelsea website I suppose.
He asked, which current Chelsea player scored two goals in an FA Youth Cup final, but his team still lost 3-2?
If you think you know the answer, send it to me at pat.nevin@chelseafc.com and the winner who will be picked by my glamorous assistant, will receive a copy of the book Roy Wonder, the story of the great Chelsea striker Roy Bentley.
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