London [UK], Mar 27 : Former Chelsea star Pat Nevin believes that the coronavirus-enforced lockdown will benefit the club's injured players to regain their fitness.
"We in the UK are only entering the first days of the lockdown and nobody is sure how long this planetary pandemic will paralyse the Premier League. But when it finishes it is certain that most of the players who have been injured will be fully fit by then and ready to start up again," the club's official website quoted Nevin as saying.
Callum Hudson-Odoi is doing well after contracting with COVID-19 while Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham and N'Golo Kante are also recovering from their respective injuries.
"Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham and N'Golo Kante will each have had a very long period to let their various problems clear up," Nevin said.
"There are very few benefits for anyone during the current crisis and you would not crassly celebrate them anyway. But not only will these players be ready, willing and able when football starts again, they will also not have the huge disadvantage of having to catch up with match fitness to everyone else's level," he added.
Chelsea sat fourth in the Premier League table when football shut down. They are also through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup where they are due to face Leicester.
As per the World Health Orgsation (WHO), over 5,42,378 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide and over 24,368 people have lost their lives to the infectious coronavirus.
( With inputs from ANI )