This disjointed season stutters into life again at the weekend as the Blues take on West Brom at the Bridge, keen to extend their table-topping advantage.

It comes as Chelsea announce a profit for the last financial year, freeing the club from any concerns about falling foul of financial fair play rules.

Player buys were largely financed by player sales, and despite the fact that there were no additions to the trophy cabinet, a shoal of fresh commercial deals have helped add to the bank balance.

The accounts are likely to be further improved in January, with insiders suggesting that Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah could be heading for the exit.

To ditch a World Cup winner so soon after lifting the trophy in Brazil might seem perverse, but Schurrle’s recent form has frustrated manager Jose Mourinho, and the Blues boss is understood to be content to send the winger back to Germany – where his stock is high.

Signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £18m just over a year ago, Schurrle is simply being used as an impact sub, and could form part of a swap deal bringing another highly rated winger, Marco Reus, to the Bridge from Borussia Dortmund.

Salah is also likely to leave in January. The nippy little Egyptian, who cost £11m, is another that stirs up mixed feelings in Jose.

He was bought – by Mourinho – because he had performed well against Chelsea in the Champions League a year ago when playing for Basel, in much the same way Chris Sutton was signed by Gianluca Vialli in 1999 after he’d turned in good performances against the Blues for Blackburn.

Jose knows Salah has pace, but now questions his finesse, and would not lose sleep if he was sold, especially if he went back to continental Europe. Italy seems the likeliest destination.

And so the squad tweaking continues as Jose looks not only to silverware this season, but even more the next.