Chelsea analysis: Squad depth a concern with Eden Hazard & Diego Costa fading

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Simon Johnson19 February 2017

A first 'Double' in seven years is still on for Chelsea as goals from Pedro and Diego Costa saw off Wolves in the FA Cup.

It did not all go Chelsea's way, however, with the Championship strugglers no pushovers on their own patch.

Antonio Conte named a strong attacking line-up, with Willian and Eden Hazard joining the two Spain internationals, but a number of this charges struggled.

It is Swansea City up next as Chelsea's focus turns back to the Premier League, but the Italian may now have more concerns than expected to mull over.

Simon Johnson was at Molineux Stadium to assess the key talking points...

Nathaniel Chalobah struggles in N'Golo Kante's absence

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The England Under-21 international started in place of one of Chelsea's 'player of the season' contenders and the difference in pedigree showed.

Chalobah has a lot of potential and qualities of his own, but he is not ready to rival Kante for a place in the team just yet.

He has impressed in cup games at Stamford Bridge, yet here on away soil Chalobah found it much tougher going.

The Championship side didn't give him any time or space on the ball and he also appeared to struggle with their physicality.

Still, it's playing in games like this that will help him develop and was also a reminder that he still has a lot of improving to do.

Kurt Zouma's strengths and weaknesses exposed

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It is a year since Zouma suffered a serious knee ligament injury and he is obviously lacking match fitness to get his game back to the level it was.

The France international started instead of the rested Cesar Azpilicueta and will look back on his performance with mixed feelings.

When it came to defending crosses in the air there is no doubt he was an improvement on Azpilicueta, who is much smaller in size.

The problem is Zouma is not as comfortable on the ball as the Spain international.

Wolves were happy to let him bring the ball out and waited for the stray pass that inevitably followed.

Azpilicueta, who significantly came on to help defend the lead, can be confident his place in Antonio Conte's first choice XI is safe for now.

Eden Hazard and Diego Costa look tired

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Both of Chelsea's star attacking players were surprisingly named in the line-up and it looked like neither were expecting it.

Perhaps the rigours of carrying Chelsea's attack for much of the season is beginning to take its toll because neither did themselves justice.

On the few occasions Hazard touched the ball, he tended to carelessly give possession away.

Meanwhile, Costa appears to have suddenly lost a yard of pace and was unusually outfought by the Wolves defenders.

He also seemed to get back to some of his old bad habits of getting involved in unnecessary confrontations, which didn't go down well with the home fans.

To his credit, he kept going and was able to end the contest on a high.

There was a flash of Costa's true quality in the build-up to Chelsea's first goal as he used speed and strength to keep possession and then laid it back for Eden Hazard.

More importantly for Chelsea, he ended what had started to become a bit of a goal drought by his standards with a fine finish into the bottom corner.

It was just his second goal in his last six appearances and meant Chelsea's place in the last eight was assured.

Cesc Fabregas marks his century showing what he does best

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Of all the players in Blue at Molineux, Fabregas will have the most to be satisfied with.

This was his 100th appearance for Chelsea since joining from Barcelona for £30m in 2014 and he was the only one that demonstrated Premier League class for 90 minutes.

Fabregas was constantly probing away, trying to find a team-mate in space or at least provide some sense of calm in midfield.

One sublime through ball should have led to a goal in the first half, but Willian's first touch let him down and his tame shot was easily saved.

It was no surprise that he started the move that led to the Blues going ahead against the run of play after the break.

Fabregas struggles to start games these days, but no-one can question his effort or attitude.

Pedro's goal doesn't disguise the fact that he should only play wing back in emergencies

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The Spain international scored his second crucial away goal in the space of a week, but it was his only highlight on a difficult night.

Pedro is becoming one of Chelsea's most consistent attacking players as he's shown by now reaching 10 strikes for the campaign.

This evening Conte picked him at left wing back, a position he has played in on a few occasions this term - usually late on due an attacking change of tactics.

But against Wolves, Pedro looked completely out of his comfort zone and was targeted by the men in orange time and time again.

He rarely won a tackle, which put enormous pressure on youngster Nathan Ake playing on the left of three centre halfs.

It says a lot that Conte still substituted him just a few minutes after Pedro had put Chelsea in front.

The 29-year-old is certainly an attacking option for that position, but it is clearly something to be saved for when Chelsea are chasing a game.

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