Chelsea's clash with Tottenham on Sunday will be their 19th since November.
That tally of games is more than any other Premier League side in the same period and five more than Tottenham, who arrive at Stamford Bridge boosted by a late midweek win at Leicester City.
"There is some proof that the schedule that we had in particular was a bit too much," manager Thomas Tuchel admitted. "At the same time, we have struggled with injuries; at first in midfield, then in the second period it was all strikers and now it's suddenly all defenders that are out.
"It's a bit awkward to deal with and we struggled with it. We struggled to find the same rhythm and consistency in our results, that's proven, but still the way we played the games and the way we approached them was always okay.
"Everybody was exhausted, not with the same patience or the same capacity to adapt to difficult moments. It's simply like this but it was a lesson learned and Sunday is the next moment to do better."
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