Thomas Tuchel described Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham as a mere bump in the road, and insisted: “There is no need to question the big picture and no need for major doubts.”

Having slipped from first to third in the table in the space of a few hours on Saturday, however, there are issues which need addressing if Tuchel’s side are to avoid a repeat of the disastrous December last season that effectively ended Chelsea’s title challenge and the tenure of his predecessor Frank Lampard.

A year ago this weekend Chelsea beat Leeds to return to the top of the table, but they won only one of their next seven games, collecting four points from a possible 18. Lampard was gone by mid-January, replaced by Tuchel, who admitted his side are struggling to cope with a schedule of 13 games in six weeks. 

In their past five league games Chelsea have been held at home by Burnley and Manchester United, and lost to West Ham, dropping seven points from a possible 15. With fixtures coming thick and fast, starting with a trip to Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday, Tuchel has to find a way to overcome the twin problems of injuries and mistakes caused by players whom he admits are ‘overloaded.’

Here are the areas that need addressing.

Injuries

Chelsea have a large squad with a combination of expensive signings and exciting home-grown talent, but it is being stretched now by a rash of injuries. Mateo Kovacic has been out for six weeks, Ngolo Kante has missed the past three games, Ben Chilwell is out until January at the earliest and Trevoh Chalobah was injured at Watford on Wednesday. 

The weekend brought more problems, with Kai Havertz and Marcos Alonso limping out of the action, and Tuchel revealed that Jorginho has been having to play with a hip problem that causes him pain. 

His first-choice strikers Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku have just returned from injury, and Tuchel admitted that the latter is still not ready to play a full game. 

The Belgian’s anonymous performance after replacing Havertz at half-time would support Tuchel’s assertion, and he said: “It is my fault because he is not ready for 45 minutes physically but still we decided to bring him because we lost Kai and Kai had a crucial role in defending set pieces, which is a huge threat from West Ham. So this is on me and I took the decision so it is my responsibility.”

Tuchel has to decide whether to play his strongest eleven against Zenit. Chelsea have already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, but victory would confirm them as winners of Group H.