Guernsey FC laugh in the face of Chelsea's fixture pile-up. What the Channel Islanders would give for only 10 games in a month. Instead, the Green Lions will play an absurd 17 matches in April, including three in three days this weekend, and have coaxed Matt Le Tissier out of retirement to help cope with the daunting backlog.

Le Tissier, now 44 and a TV pundit for Sky Sports, has not played professionally since 2002 but has offered his services and hopes to feature on Sunday, 28 years after leaving his birthplace for England.

"My mum will just be worried that I don't go out there and pull my hamstring within a minute," he says. "I might struggle to play for the full 90, but over 20 or 30 minutes I should be able to manage – at the end when everyone else is getting tired."

Quite whether Le Tissier will be able to produce the sparkling form of his Southampton heyday, when he would regularly find the net in fine fashion, remains to be seen. One thing is certain, though: Guernsey need all the bodies they can muster.

Horley Town are the visitors to Footes Lane on Friday evening, before the arrival of Farnham Town on Saturday and Raynes Park Vale on Sunday. Indeed, there are only three days in the coming nine when Guernsey are not playing in the Combined Counties League Premier Division, five tiers below the Football League.

The Green Lions have paid for their own success this season. A cup run in the FA Vase, a competition for teams playing below step four in the English league pyramid, took them to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Spennymoor Town. With a number of fixtures succumbing to the bad weather, it means Guernsey have played only 27 league games. Windsor, who are one place below them in fifth, have played 38.

"It would have only taken exceptional circumstances such as these for me to offer up my services," says Le Tissier who is an honorary president at the club where his brother, Mark, is the general secretary. "The boys have been doing great and they certainly don't need me to make them any better, but it was just a case of offering up another body to try and give people a rest at the right time.

"It's my heartland and where I grew up; it's where my childhood memories are and where my family still live to this day. I never got to play in the full island team before I left so it will be nice to put on the jersey again. Mum and Dad are season ticket holders so I'm fairly sure we'll get a good turnout; they get good crowds down there anyway without me turning up."

Guernsey FC were re‑formed in 2011 and secured promotion in their first season from the Combined Counties Division One, although the island has a rich football history and has competed in the Muratti trophy against the other Channel Islands since 1905 and the Island Games since 1991.

There is the possibility of promotion if they finish second, depending on their total points compared to teams at the same level of the pyramid who also finish second, and if Tony Vance's side win all seven games in hand then they would go two points ahead of the leaders, Egham Town.

"It's all hands to the pump at the moment and a serious balancing act. I think I just laugh at it really, it's a crazy situation," says Vance. "Matt's available, whether we use him I don't know but he's there if we need him. The other players get first call but it depends if they are all fit."

The Cherry Red Records-sponsored league is a world away from its Barclays counterpart, nine divisions above. Here players have to pay to play and the Football Association insists that Guernsey pay the travel and accommodation costs of all visiting teams, which equates to £4,000 for every home match.

Steve Dewsnip, the chairman, said: "Guernsey hospitality is quite legendary and we treat teams as we would want to be treated ourselves. For the teams we've encountered so far, it has been a completely new experience for them. Flying to a game of football at step six and five is a new experience for these clubs. But also because of the crowds we've been fortunate to attract, more often than not they've been playing in front of 1,000 plus people."

The captain, Sam Cochrane, who earns a living as a gardener, added: "A couple of seasons ago I would travel 10 minutes in my car to an away match, but now it's become routine to fly to games.

"Matt is there to help us if we need him during this fixture pile-up – it's exciting. The majority of us are close friends from outside of football, we've grown up going to school together and now we get to enjoy our football together, which is pretty amazing."

Having been in training for the Southampton half-marathon, Le Tissier hopes shedding a few pounds will help if he plays this weekend.

"I'd like to think I can put myself in positions where I can get the odd half-chance to score, that's what I was best known for and I like to think if the chances came along I'd be able to stick them in the back of the net," he adds. "When I was doing my training and running just outside Southampton my old first-team coach Dennis Rofe drove past in his car, stuck his head out of the window and shouted: 'You never ran that fast when I was coaching you.'"

"Guernsey have only picked up four points from the three games last weekend so I think maybe the fatigue is coming in, we need to utilise the squad and at least look to get to second place and have a chance of still getting promoted. They are a good bunch of lads and very proud to represent their island."

And if Le Tissier scores? "I'll celebrate in the same nonchalant way that I used to, as if it was a run-of-the-mill everyday occurrence and walk back to the halfway line ... so as not to waste too much energy."