Former Chelsea captain Marcel Desailly feels the sales of Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic has hurt them this season.

Costa was offloaded to Atletico Madrid, while Matic left for Manchester United.

"Massive. Massive," Desailly told the Daily Mail when asked about the sales of Costa and Matic in the summer.

"Costa would have scored 10 goals more than [his replacement] Alvaro Morata. So maybe that's five more wins and that's a big difference.

"And the system of three at the back did not work this season because Conte lost Matic," added Desailly.

"Matic fitted with N'Golo Kante at the time and Cesc Fabregas fitted better in that system with him too. Together they protected the defence like it was needed."