manager Roberto Di Matteo is confident his team can cope with an imminent fixture congestion due to their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The European Champions travel to Japan in December to compete with the winners of the world's other continental competitions.

But although the prospect of two extra games will take their December match tally to nine, Di Matteo believes his squad has enough strength in depth to cope with the demands of a game every three days.

He told Sky Sports: "It will certainly put a big strain on the team, because it is a trip to the other side of the world with different time zones while the Premier League is still playing on.

"We will have to deal with that. But we have got a big enough squad that I think we should be able to cope with it."

And a trip to Japan could not have come at a worse time for the Stamford Bridge outfit who are without a win in their last three Premier League outings, but Di Matteo believes Chelsea are in good shape to improve further.

"I think we are in much better shape than in previous years and in a much better position," he told Chelsea's official website.

"We are very close to our best and we are still in the mix, but the amount of games you play in this period probably has some kind of effect.

"We are still playing well and still creating chances and we just need to be a bit more clinical to take chances and finish them off."

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