Antonio Conte reveals Chelsea are training 70 per cent less than during title-winning season

Antonio Conte has revealed he is putting his Chelsea side through a less intensive training regime this season and believes the champions' form is down to the lack of depth in his squad.

Chelsea go into their Premier League clash with Watford at Stamford Bridge having lost their last two top-flight games before drawing 3-3 with Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Reports subsequently emerged suggesting Conte's intensive training regime was leaving the players exhausted.

Marcos Alonso insisted earlier in the week that the team have not had extra training sessions penned in due to Chelsea's worrying league form - and Conte has now revealed his team are actually training 70 per cent less than last term.

When asked whether he thought his players were unhappy with his training methods, Conte told reporters on Friday: "I don't know about this.

"I have my methods. They're the same as last season when we won the league. Honestly, I think we are working maybe 70 per cent less this season. Maybe for this reason we are having trouble. On tactical and physical aspects, less.

"We are playing every three days. When you play every three days it's impossible to work above all on the physical aspects. On the tactical aspects you have to work less and pay less attention on every detail. We are doing this."

Conte then expressed his frustration once again at the lack of depth in his squad, saying: "When you have to play four competitions, this is the path you must follow.

"But it's normal. I repeat: the problem is to play every game with the same players. That's a big problem. It's impossible for these players to work a part of the game.

"The game is not training. It's different. You can train only a part of your fitness, metabolic, but you lose the strength. If you have many players you can use the training sessions on the physical aspect. It's normal."