Injuries can hurt even the most equipped of footballing sides. It appears that this is the case even at a club that has a whole constellation of stars like Chelsea.

Cech is still making a recovery from the head injury that he received against Reading, the same game that Carlo Cudicini suffered an injury that has had him out of the side and forced the Blues to sign Magnus Hedman as cover.

Arjen Robben and Joe Cole are providing Mourinho with massive constraints on his attacking options that are compounded by Shevchenko being possibly the most consistent under performer in the premiership this season.

The most problematic though is the loss of captain marvellous John Terry who has missed the festive fixtures through a back injury. His replacement Khalid Boulahrouz has cost his side a number of goals that have allowed Manchester United to remain ahead of the Champions. Mourinho is still unsure just how long his main man will be unavailable for, with reports saying it could be anything up to 12 weeks.

The club owner and provider of many millions Roman Abramovich has already indicated that he wants to see more product from the clubs academy rather than having to pay massively inflated prices for players.

How will the ‘Special One’ cope? Will he hold out his begging bowl and use the Oil Merchant’s money to plug the gaps in his squad. Will players want to go to Chelsea and risk ruining their career, and becoming an expensive bench warmer like Shaun Wright-Phillips. There are no shortage of clubs who are prepared to sell their stars for a handsome profit. Similarly there are just as many looking to capitalise on massive depreciation in Chelsea players when they are sold on, like Newcastle did when they bought Damien Duff for £5m when three years previously he moved to Stamford Bridge for £17m.