Chelsea’s season starts tonight – and it might not end until next May

It feels like just days ago that Chelsea were finishing last season’s hectic schedule, facing off against Manchester City in the Champions League final in Porto.

Then the Euros started, and most of our squad has barely had time to catch their breath between their international commitments and the new campaign, which begins next weekend technically – but really gets underway tonight.

Anyone looking to buy Chelsea FC tickets will see that the Blues are facing Tottenham at home tonight – it may be a friendly, but will also feel like a real game given the opposition. For us, this season starts tonight.

Then there’s next Wednesday’s Super Cup against Villareal. It will also feel a bit like a preseason game given the timing – but there’s a real trophy at stake, one that the Blues have never won before, in fact.

Both of these matches will warm us up nicely for the league season starting at Stamford Bridge on the 14th against Aston Villa – although most of our squad won’t require much warming up – they’ve been playing football almost non-stop since the start of “Project Restart” last July.

Given how well we finished out last campaign with Thomas Tuchel in charge, we’re not too worried about hitting the ground running anyway. But the fact we’ve not made a single singing yet will be of some concern to many fans.

Of course there’s not a huge amount we can add to a squad that’s already full of talent, but given we’re selling players and not replacing them, we could end up looking a little short once injuries and suspensions start to kick in.

A striker is clearly a priority, and a central midfielder to replace the on-loan Billy Gilmour would also be handy.

As it stands, we haven’t managed to secure either, nor a central defender, which seems to be on the club’s priority list too. If we end up making our moves late, we can manage. Certainly we’ve got plenty of quality to keep us winning while the new faces bed in.

But if we don’t make the signings at all, that’s when we might get a little concerned. We’ve seen this story before – we win things, then fail to press the advantage and fall back to the pack.

We’re sure Marina has something up her sleeve – but given things are getting serious as soon as 19:45 tonight, she might want to get into gear sooner rather than later. Our rivals aren’t delaying in strengthening, and if we don’t get moving, we’re likely to get left in their dust.