Chelsea boss Rafael Benítez frustrated by fixture pile-up

Rafael Benítez admits his Chelsea squad is being stretched to the limit after the Blues could only earn a draw against Brentford in the FA Cup.

Fernando Torres scored the west Londoners’ equaliser in a 2-2 draw to set up a replay against the League One side at Griffin Park after Brentford appeared to be heading for a shock victory over the Champions League winners.

Benítez feels his side are being put under intense pressure as a result of a hectic fixture schedule and hopes he will be able to rest some of his star performers in the coming weeks.

“It’s very difficult; we are playing a game every three days,” said the Chelsea interim boss.

“How can you train the day before? How can you train the day after? We have to use the same players all the time, so hopefully the players that are injured will be able to come back, and hopefully the players at the Africa Cup of Nations will be back sooner rather than later.

“The positive was the reaction of the team, but the negative is that we are using some players too often. We are a strong team but we have problems because certain players are playing 90 minutes all the time, it’s not easy.”