Monday's 2-0 defeat to Manchester United was damaging enough for Chelsea without seeing their injury issues worsen ahead of their toughest run of fixtures all season.
Andreas Christensen broke his nose in a collision with Anthony Martial, N'Golo Kante suffered another setback with his adductor muscle and Callum Hudson-Odoi's hamstring problem became apparent before kick-off.
In addition, there remain concerns about Tammy Abraham getting over his painful ankle knock sustained against Arsenal a few weeks back, while Christian Pulisic has now been out for almost two months.
Alongside this, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still not ready to return after he tore his Achilles tendon in Chelsea's post-season United States friendly.
There are hopes that Abraham could be fit for Saturday's crunch top-four showdown with Tottenham but Frank Lampard spoke of a "frustrating night on many levels" after seeing his side undone by a combination of injuries, VAR and poor finishing in the disappointing home loss to United.
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"I think he has got a broken nose now," the Chelsea manager said of Christensen. "Callum for the weekend? No. Pulisic, no. Tammy is a maybe. It is not going our way at the minute on injuries. It is frustrating."
Particularly concerning is the case of Kante, who has been a shadow of his former self this season and is now facing three weeks on the sidelines.
There are legitimate concerns within Chelsea that he has long-term issues that need managing and the club are perhaps now counting the cost of him playing in the 4-1 Europa League final win with an injury.
Maurizio Sarri's parting gift to the club may be a legacy of injuries to the club's highest-paid and most respected player in exchange for his first trophy as a manager.
Kante missed whole of pre-season and is on his fourth separate setback of the campaign, after separate hamstring, adductor and ankle injuries in recent months.
The France international has been lauded for years for his remarkable stamina, with the famous saying that "70 per cent of the earth is covered by water, the rest is covered by Kante" summing up his seemingly super-human status.
But he is mortal. He has missed as many games already this season as all of his previous Premier League seasons put together.
Kante isn't the only player paying the price for playing through the pain last season. Antonio Rudiger had a long spell out with injury at the start of the current campaign, which also stemmed from Sarri using him while not fully fit.
Beyond that, Reece James has suffered some setbacks since returning from loan and Pedro continues to have spells out with a minor recurring Achilles problem.
The bottom line is that after just 26 rounds, Chelsea have seen their players miss more games this season than the whole of last term.
On the plus side, Abraham and Hudson-Odoi will likely be back soon and Christensen may play with a mask in the coming weeks.
Pulisic, meanwhile, has been training with the under-23s, while Loftus-Cheek will play at least twice for the same side before being welcomed back into the first-team fold.
After having so few injury concerns under Sarri and Antonio Conte, Chelsea now appear to be breaking down in Lampard's first season in charge.
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The timing couldn't be worse, of course, given Lampard wasn't able to strengthen his squad last summer due to a transfer ban and was then left bitterly frustrated by the club's inability to do any deals in January.
Lampard's training methods and high energy style of play could arguably be blamed for the lengthy injury list. There's also the fact that Chelsea are presently relying on so many youngsters who may not be used to the physicality of top-level football.
Still, sources say Conte's training sessions remain the most intense experienced amongst the players, while Lampard's routines are considered on the same level as Sarri's in terms of workload.
Besides, Chelsea can't blame injuries for their worsening form. They may be hurting now but the Blues have long been praised for the work they have done behind the scenes keeping players injury-free.
In addition, they haven't been hit as hard as most of their top-six rivals this season. Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham all have worse injury records overall and while Leicester City have been let off lightly, their cause has been aided significantly by the lack of European football.
Furthermore, while this weekend's opponents Spurs may not have as many players sidelined at the minute, they will arrive at Stamford Bridge without their two most important forwards, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
In that sense, Chelsea really can't complain. The injuries are partly a legacy from last season's desperate bid for Champions League football.
The problem is that the fall-out is making it more difficult for Lampard's team to replicate that achievement this time around.