Why Chelsea's squad players hold the key to saving the season

As Victor Moses pulled up in the Selhurst Park penalty area 40 minutes into a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, the reasons could not be clearer to see. There's nothing quite as expressive as a hamstring ping: hand to back of leg; eyes to sky. You didn't need to be a doctor to diagnose this one.

But Chelsea's third in quick succession: Moses joining Alvaro Morata and N'Golo Kante in the treatment room. Something must be wrong, right? Or maybe not.

We spent all summer talking about this, if you recall: the twice-weekly football; the lengthened recovery times; the shortened treatment windows. The accepted truth, that Chelsea were lucky with injuries last season, is only true in part. There's a good case to be made that exactly the sort of soft tissue injuries now dogging the Blues campaign, were no less prevalent last time around.

The difference being that a tight hamstring on a Saturday got rested and scanned on a Sunday; slowly worked back to fitness between Monday and Thursday; and then was ready for action again the following weekend. It didn't get pitched into battle for 90 minutes on a Wednesday.

Antonio Conte, pained as ever in defeat at Palace, confirmed that Morata will feature for Chelsea against Roma at Stamford Bridge in this midweek round of Champions League fixtures. His injury woes are nothing compared to those of Giallorossi boss Eusebio Di Francesco: who looks likely to be without Kostas Manolas, Stephan El Shaarawy, Patrik Schick, Kevin Strootman, Gregoire Defrel and Emerson Palmieri on Wednesday.

That'll be some short-term comfort for Conte, but what about selection pressures going forward? Chelsea worked to cover all bases in the summer and, through multi-tasking, probably have a marginally more versatile squad this season than last. There are those who will never have it, but the problem here is not one of depth, but one of readiness within that depth.

Michy Batshuayi's big moment, his chance to justify that £32m price tag, came and went at Palace: along with that unexplained show of emotion on being subbed. Was it anger or frustration? His Twitter feed has been uncharacteristically silent on the matter.

There were many calling for the inclusion of Antonio Rudiger in that XI: presumably at the expense of the usually dependable Cesar Azpilicueta, who endured something of a horror show. But he too is yet to demonstrate the ability to function as a part of the Conte machine during the albeit limited game time, albeit limited, he has been offered.

Conte has the depth but, for whatever reason, he chooses not to use it. And, given this is a results-based business, the only realistic scenario is that his depth has failed to step-up to expected standards during training.

It is never easy to muscle into a top-level side, but from the current XI, Moses, Marcos Alonso, and Azpilicueta all managed it. None of those players was particularly highly rated by outside observers at the time, but all contributed in a big way to what was last season a title-winning side.

It's not as if the chances don't present themselves: there have been enough injuries and suspensions this season to work some of those squad depths. But, aside perhaps from an impressive showing for Andreas Christensen in the defeat to Manchester City, who has risen to the challenge?

Football is a squad game and Chelsea have long known that would be far more the case this season than last. Now is the time for some in that squad to park their social media squabbles, and show on the field that they are able to provide real depth when needed.