Kepa Arrizabalaga said Chelsea are lacking the fresh legs to turn the tide in games due to their extensive injury list.
Including on-loan midfielder Denis Zakaria who picked up an injury against Fulham, the Blues are now without 10 players due to fitness-related issues.
The list also includes arguably their most important players such as Reece James, N’Golo Kante, and Ben Chilwell.
It does not justify their having only one win in their last nine games in all competitions, but any team would struggle to cope with losing so many players.
It is not only that Graham Potter faces tough decisions when picking his first eleven, Arrizabalaga argued that Chelsea also barely have any options to call upon during games.
“Of course it’s not easy when you have injuries, players coming in, coming out,” the Spain international told Chelsea’s official website.
“It is difficult because when you have a full squad you have more options, you have fresh legs to play the second half.
“They come on and change the games.
“But it is what it is and we have to take it, we have to manage it and try to get to our best.
“We have brilliant players in the squad, we have big quality.
“It’s true we have a lot of injuries, but we have to keep going.”
Fortunately for Chelsea, they only have two fixtures left in January and the Champions League knock-out stages do not start until mid-February.
By then, some of these injured players are expected to be back which will surely help them get back on track.
The 10-point distance to the top four in the Premier League leaves them playing catch-up, but is not an impossible task either with 20 games left this season.
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