Antonio Conte says Chelsea’s mounting injury problems are the result of having a small squad.
Blues boss Conte has seen his options limited further by injuries to the likes of Alvaro Morata, N’Golo Kante and Victor Moses.
Thankfully for the champions, Morata is back in the squad for tonight’s Champions League clash with Roma at Stamford Bridge.
But the absence of Kante is a major blow, particularly as summer signing Danny Drinkwater has not played since his summer move from Leicester because he is still recovering from a calf problem.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Roma game, Conte suggested that injuries are inevitable given how many matches his players are facing.
“The problem is the same players are always playing,” he said.
“Also, we have in our team players who are not used to playing three games in a row [in the same week].
“For Kante, it’s the first time, for Moses it’s the first time, for Morata it’s the first time to play regularly with this team, for [Marcos] Alonso it’s the same.
“When you have a lot of games you need to rotate players and if this is not possible I have to take risks.
“For example, against Manchester City, Morata was injured after 20 minutes. But if I don’t put Morata in the starting 11, you [the media] would tell me that I’m crazy. Instead, sometimes the players need to rest.”