Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed his disappointment towards the Premier League's decision to reject their request to postpone Sunday's meeting with Wolves.
The Blues had four positive cases of Covid-19 earlier in the week and Tuchel has now confirmed that a further three players have since contracted the virus which, combined with an injury to centre-back Andreas Christensen, has left Chelsea with a slim squad.
Tuchel named just six players on the bench, two of which are goalkeepers, and he admitted he was frustrated to see the game go ahead.
"We thought we had a strong case regarding the security and health of players, we have seven positive cases, we were made to be in the bus and travel together for three hours, were in meeting together, in dinner and lunch and the situation does not feel like it will stop," Tuchel said (via BBC Sport) before the game.
"We applied to not play and put the situation under control and it was rejected. It is very hard to understand it, we are concerned about the health of the players. We end up with players who play coming from injuries and we take the risk."
"I am worried from a medical point of view, we have had four days of consecutive positive tests. How will it stop if we are in a bus together and in meetings together?
"We are disappointed, we are a bit angry."
There has been no confirmation of which players have tested positive, but with Christensen's absence put down to a back injury, the three players unaccounted for are midfielders Jorginho and Ruben Loftus-Cheek and forward Kai Havertz, who returned a negative test just days ago.
Source : 90min