While Chelsea's injury issues came amid a brutal winter schedule and a downturn in form the Blues, it did provide an opportunity.
With so many players missing, as is the case during international breaks, Chelsea's development squad were called upon to enhance the numbers Thomas Tuchel had at his disposal.
Harvey Vale, Xavier Simons and Jude Soonsup-Bell were called upon to start against Brentford in the Carabao Cup and performed admirably, while the cohort was even bigger on Cobham's training pitches.
