Head coach Thomas Tuchel has acknowledged that Chelsea are 'disappointed and angry' after being forced to play Sunday's Premier League fixture at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Chelsea have a total of seven players who have tested positive for coronavirus, three of which have come from tests which have taken place over the weekend.
However, the Blues failed with a request to postpone the game at Molineux, despite a precedent being set when the Premier League cancelled Aston Villa's game with Burnley on Saturday at just over two hours notice.
The match is being played due to Chelsea being able to meet the criteria regarding available players, but several of their squad have recently spent time on the sidelines.
Speaking ahead of the game in the West Midlands, Tuchel is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "It is exactly like this, we thought we had a strong case regarding the security and health of players, we have seven positive cases, we were made to be in the bus and travel together for three hours, were in meeting together, in dinner and lunch and the situation does not feel like it will stop.
"We applied to not play and put the situation under control and it was rejected. It is very hard to understand it, we are concerned about the health of the players. We end up with players who play coming from injuries and we take the risk.
"I am worried from a medical point of view, we have had four days of consecutive positive tests. How will it stop if we are in a bus together and in meetings together? We are disappointed, we are a bit angry."
Tuchel has named just four outfield players on the substitutes' bench, with Ben Chilwell, who was already injured, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner, Romelu Lukaku, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kai Havertz all absent.
Darren Plant
