Cesar Azpilicueta admits Chelsea have morale problem ahead of Watford clash

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta admits morale in the Blues dressing room has dropped significantly during a run of three games without a win.

The reigning Premier League champions secured a hugely significant win away to Atletico Madrid at the end of September but have to failed to win a match since then. Manchester City came to Stamford Bridge and left with a hugely impressive 1-0 victory prior to October's international break before losing to the Premier League's bottom side Crystal Palace last weekend.

Antonio Conte's side took a two-goal lead against Roma in their Champions League group stage clash on Wednesday 18 October only for the Serie A side to take a 3-2 lead thanks to a brace from Edin Dzeko. Only a late Eden Hazard header prevented a third consecutive defeat.

Back-to-back defeats leave Chelsea six points off leaders Manchester City and Manchester United ahead of the visit of Watford to west London on Saturday.

Marco Silva's side, who will still be buoyed by last Saturday's victory over Arsenal, will be hoping to inflict more misery on the Blues, who are in desperate need of a positive result to lift the mood in the dressing room.

"The mood at the moment is not the best," Azpilicueta told the Evening Standard. "It is true we are not in our best moment. We came into the game after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League. We had the game in our hands when we were 2-0 up, but we also had it lost when we were 3-2 down."

Azpilicueta added: "We managed to get a point, we are top of the group and we will keep fighting. To come back into the game to get a point (against Roma) is big for the team, to show the character and that we won't give up. But the reality is that we have gone three games without a win and we will try to get back to winning ways on Saturday."

Chelsea's attempts to end the winless run could be complicated by a growing number of injuries within Conte's squad. While Alvaro Morata returned from a hamstring problem against Roma, David Luiz and Tiemoue Bakayoko both finished the match with knocks, with Victor Moses another to have picked up a problem in that defeat to Palace.

Chelsea are already without N'Golo Kante who returned from international duty with France with a hamstring injury of his own, while Danny Drinkwater is still recovering from a thigh problem that has prevented him from making his debut for the club.