Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has suggested that fatigue played a part in his side drawing a blank against Leicester City this afternoon.
The Blues were unable to find a breakthrough at Stamford Bridge, despite holding a numerical advantage for the last 20 minutes of the contest after Foxes defender Ben Chilwell received his marching orders.
The result represented the third goalless draw for Chelsea in the space of a week following cup games against Arsenal and Norwich City and Conte thinks that his side's hectic schedule, which has seen them play 10 games in the last month, is partly to blame.
"I think not to find excuses or alibis, today we paid a lot for the effort [against] Arsenal. To play Wednesday night and then today against a really good team, a team in really good physical form like Leicester, after only two and a half days," he told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"We played with almost the same players as against Arsenal. My plan was to play with one team in the FA Cup against Norwich, and then these two games with almost the same players.
"But I think, today, I saw a lot of players very tired. Very tired. I think we played with tiredness today. We suffered a lot in the first half and at the start of the second half.
"Then when I decided to put fresh energy on, the game changed. We tried to create chances, to score, and we are not suffering defensively. We tried to win the game. But at the end I think the result was fair."
Conte's side now face their FA Cup replay against the Canaries on Wednesday night before travelling to Brighton & Hove Albion in the league next Saturday lunchtime.
Neil Wilkes
