10 Biggest Questions Surrounding Chelsea's Title Bid

1. How Vulnerable Is The Squad To Injuries To Key Players?

Chelsea have bought well this summer, addressing many of the shortcomings which reared their ugly head last season and limited the club's ability to hold on in the final push for the title and Champions League trophy. Filipe Luis will add more attacking flair from deep on the left, Cesc Fabregas is a playmaker who has already proven his worth in the Premier League at Arsenal and Diego Costa adds height, strength and most importantly goals to a Chelsea frontline which was tragically impotent for most of the preceding season. There's no shortage of talent at the club, but a long-term problem may be the fact that certain players are absolutely instrumental to the club being able to operate at maximum efficiency. Manchester City may have some enormously important players, but they've also got back-ups capable of filling their roles, albeit to a less impressive extent, should injuries take their toll. Chelsea, on the other hand, would be impacted far more significantly were John Terry, Nemanja Matic or new signings Cesc Fabregas or Diego Costa be waylaid for any extended period of time. Surprisingly, Matic in particular may leave the club extremely vulnerable during periods out: Mikel can offer similar defensive strengths, but is vastly less agile and slows the pace of the game considerably. Opposing teams often ignore him due to his lack of offensive capabilities, giving them one more player to concentrate on Eden Hazard or Diego Costa. Matic is not only a defensive midfielder, but one who specialises in turning defensive moves into attacking ones, making him instrumental in turning games in Chelsea's favour. Where Mikel consistently plays it safe, Matic tries slightly riskier passes and runs, never ignoring his positional responsibilities but ensuring opponents do not have time to regroup when faced with a counter-attack. Losing Cesc Fabregas would put the squad back in the same position it was in last year, relying on Oscar to provide the creativity when he has shown himself more at ease scoring goals than creating them. Diego Costa, meanwhile, suffered a number of hamstring injuries at the tail end of last season, leading to the quite terrifying prospect of Fernando Torres flailing helpless at the top of the Blues' starting eleven once again.