Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca warned of more squad rotation in the wake of his side's 3-1 loss to Leeds on Wednesday.
Defeat at Elland Road came after Maresca made five changes which seemed to rob his team of the fluency in attack and defensive robustness that had characterised impressive displays against Barcelona and Arsenal.
Reece James, who has had his game-time strictly managed since returning from a lengthy injury lay-off, dropped to the bench while Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana and Pedro Neto, who have been in fine form this season, were also left out.
There was also the absence in midfield of Moisés Caicedo who served the first game of a three-match ban for his red card against Arsenal.
Maresca has faced repeated questioning over the number of changes made to his line-ups.
Against Leeds, there was an alarming drop-off in the team's level with their two most influential and consistent players this season -- James and Caicedo -- missing and the players that did start being out-muscled by a physically strong side.
"We have players, because of their history, that we have to manage," Maresca said. "Wes, Reece, Pedro, Romeo [Lavia]. We have four or five players that we need to protect. I would like to play all of the games with Reece, Pedro, Moi, but it's not possible. We try to find different solutions.
"We always talk about experience when we drop points. When we beat Barcelona and drew with Arsenal, no one was mentioning experienced players.
"The reason we didn't win against Leeds is not because of experience, it's because we were not good enough.
"We have experienced players. Unfortunately they were not on the pitch. One was suspended, one had an injury. The ones with more experience were out."
The squad were set to travel to Bournemouth on Friday afternoon, only around 24 hours after returning from Leeds.
The tight turnaround and recovery time means that none of the players that played on Wednesday will have trained ahead of the game at the Vitality Stadium.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Maresca again pointed to the physical toll being taken on his side by a demanding schedule.
Chelsea will have played 11 matches in all competitions between Nov. 22 and Dec. 30 and it is likely that the squad, which is deep in numbers but lacking in experience, will have to be further rotated.
Issues with discipline -- Caicedo's red card against Arsenal was the team's sixth of the season -- are also being felt.
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"We probably paid the bill for playing one hour with 10 players against Arsenal," Maresca said. "We also paid the bill in terms of Leeds away being more complicated than previous games.
"Most of the rotation is because other players cannot play. We have players that in this moment are not able to play every three days.
"It's always the same. When you pick 11 players and you win, everything is fine. When you pick 11 players and you don't win, that is always the reason why.
"Playing with 10 players for an hour then going to Leeds is not the best situation for us."