Antonio Conte pledged to work even harder to steer Chelsea through a troubled spell following the 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Already without N’Golo Kante, Alvaro Morata and summer signing Danny Drinkwater, the champions’ injury woes continued as Victor Moses went off during the first half at Selhurst Park.
Moses has a hamstring problem and will miss next week’s Champions League clash with Roma. He is being assessed to see how serious the injury is.
Beaten in their last two matches, and amid fears the influential Kante could be out for around a month, Chelsea are enduring a testing time.
“For us it’s a very difficult moment,” boss Conte said.
“When you start a game without Morata and without Kante, it’s not simple. And during a game you lose another important player in your team like Victor Moses.
“Despite this we have to find the will to fight. I think this season will be very difficult and for this reason we have to put 150% in.
“It’s not enough to put 100% in like last season. Me first, the staff and the players have to put in 150% because the season will be very difficult.
“Don’t look for excuses. Through work, we find a solution. It won’t be easy, but I must put all of myself into my job.”
Chelsea are hopeful that striker Morata will be available for the Roma game.
This post was last modified on 14/10/2017