Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he is becoming increasingly frustrated with his team's mounting injury list amid their ongoing hectic schedule and coronavirus issues.
The Blues got back to winning ways in the Premier League on Boxing Day, coming from behind to earn a 3-1 victory against Aston Villa.
However, the win came at a cost with Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante being forced off through injury, as well as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku playing longer than advised after recovering from coronavirus.
Touching upon a less-than-productive meeting between managers and Premier League officials earlier this week, Tuchel backed up the opinion of his counterparts by criticising the league for their decision regarding fixtures being played while contending with coronavirus outbreaks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Tuchel said: "We have another injured player. We play against a team with no international duty. At some stage it'll catch us.
"We let Callum Hudson-Odoi play 90 minutes because we needed to change other players. Who decided that? They make us play. We play two more cup games. We play against teams with games postponed. This cannot be the right way.
"Not enough changes for us. Five subs was invented because of Coronavirus. Europe has a winter break but we play through and put it on the players' shoulders. They make us play all the time even if we have Covid. We have new injuries and it won't stop. People at the green table, in offices make these decisions.
"It's not fair today. He [Lukaku] had a very good performance. He's not ready for that even if he wants it. We've all been in bed for 10 days with flu. He was a game changer today. I'm super impressed with the guys but I'm super concerned.
"We will have the same discussion on Wednesday again. Nobody asked us. If we say what we want to change it's not possible. We are struggling, we are pressing our players. I have maximum respect for what the players did today."
Chelsea are scheduled to return to action on Wednesday night when they play host to Brighton & Hove Albion.
