By MATT BARLOW
As Rafa Benitez complains of the fatigue eating away at his thin squad, Chelsea have an army of 22 players on loan to clubs around the world.
The number is almost double that of next-in-line Arsenal who have 12 players plying their trade elsewhere, while Tottenham have 11 and Manchester United 10.
Chelsea’s include 19-year-old Lucas Piazon at Malaga and Michael Essien at Real Madrid, but Benitez insists none of these players are able to help ease the burden.
Some are locked into long loans, unable to return mid-season, and most are simply too young and inexperienced for the types of challenge facing Chelsea.
Sympathy is likely to be in short supply but Benitez said: ‘Some of them we cannot bring back because we have the agreement they will carry on and some of them are too young. We need experience playing at this level, so maybe they couldn’t play anyway.
‘The squad would be fine if we had all the players here but the injuries we’ve had, like Oriol Romeu at a time when John Mikel Obi is in the Africa Cup of Nations, and with so many competitions, we are suffering now.’
Nigeria’s final group game against Ethiopia will determine how quickly Mikel and Victor Moses can return from South Africa. A win will take them through to the quarter-finals at the weekend.
Romeu will miss the rest of the season, David Luiz is out with a calf injury and Eden Hazard is banned for at least three games after kicking a ball boy at Swansea.
With a calendar congested by the Super Cup, the Club World Cup and progress to the last four of the Capital One Cup, the Blues have not had a clear week for months. Discounting international football, you must go back to August to find one.
Benitez tried to rest players at Brentford in the FA Cup fourth round but the plan backfired and he faces a replay on Sunday, February 17. Chelsea have played 40 games already this campaign and could play more than 70 if they get to the finals of the FA Cup and Europa League.
Gary Cahill agreed the schedule was taking its toll but admitted the display at Griffin Park was poor. Benitez will demand improvement at Reading on Wednesday.
‘The first half wasn’t good,’ said Cahill. ‘It was sloppy. We could blame the pitch and we couldn’t see anything in our half in the sunshine but we shouldn’t blame those things.
‘We were off the pace. The gaffer had a few words at half-time. Everyone knew it was below par and we had to do something about it. In the second half we showed more character in horrible, difficult circumstances. You can’t always play amazing football but we dug in deep.
‘It’s not ideal to have another game. There are so many that you feel you’re just recovering and then you’re playing again. Sometimes we feel leggy.’
The England centre half rejected the idea that the team had not responded to Benitez.
‘The character we showed in the second half shows we’re playing for the manager,’ said Cahill. ‘He’s under a lot of pressure from the fans but we need to just try and do the job.’
