Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has claimed that his side were always going to find life difficult against Crystal Palace due to their mounting injury problems.

The Blues travelled to Selhurst Park for the shock 2-1 defeat without top scorer Alvaro Morata, summer signing Danny Drinkwater and reigning PFA Player of the Year N'Golo Kante in their 18-man squad.

Conte, who also saw Victor Moses pick up an injury problem against Palace, believes that his side can get their campaign back on track through hard work following this latest setback in South London - their second successive loss.

"To play this game without three important players, it is not simple," Sky Sports News quotes him as saying. "Today wasn't simple. I think we started very badly and it was very difficult. Also we need to understand the situation and to continue to work to find the right solution despite the injuries.

"They are big losses for us but we have to accept the situation and try to do our best. We have to prepare for the next game against Roma in the Champions League. We have to check all the players and then to try to do our best. We have to go game by game. This season will be very difficult in all aspects.

"We must be focused game by game and try to do our best. At the end of the season we will see what happened. It is important for us to understand we are trying to build something important for the future. We have changed a lot. The only words I know in these circumstances are 'to work'. Work, work, work. It's a verb."

Chelsea are now nine points adrift of league leaders Manchester City, with back-to-back home games against Watford and Everton up next.