Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas is adamant his heavy workload at the club has been a positive and isn't to blame for being ruled out for three weeks with a torn thigh muscle.

Fabregas has had to pull out of Spain's international fixtures against Spain and Germany during the current international break.

He also looks likely to miss Chelsea's League game at home to West Brom and the Champions League group encounter at Schalke.

Liverpool v Chelsea - player ratings 24 show all Liverpool v Chelsea - player ratings 1/24 Simon Mignolet: 7 Unlucky to be beaten by Cahill’s effort as his defence failed to clear – saved well from Hazard on a couple of occasions. GETTY 2/24 Glen Johnson: 7 Did well to foil Hazard on two occasions in the first-half as careless play from the Liverpool midfield left their defence exposed. GETTY 3/24 Dejan Lovren: 5 Perhaps a little fortunate to return to the side after the fine performance of Kolo Toure against Real Madrid – was generally a spectator to the battle between Skrtel and Costa. GETTY 4/24 Martin Skrtel: 6 Intriguing battle with Diego Costa – gave as good as he got but will ultimately feel he lost out as the Spaniard struck Chelsea’s winner. GETTY 5/24 Alberto Moreno: 6 Struggled to cope with the double-threat of Ramires and Ivanovic but stuck to his task well despite being put under a lot of pressure. 6/24 Steven Gerrard: 5 A solid but unspectacular performance from the Liverpool skipper – continues to fail to impact games as much as he would like to. Getty 7/24 Emre Can: 7 Got Liverpool off to a flyer with his deflected effort – a solid performance all round. 8/24 Jordan Henderson: 5 Perhaps suffering from burn out having been heavily relied upon in the opening months of the season – like his captain was overshadowed by Matic and Fabregas. GETTY 9/24 Philippe Coutinho: 5 Another industrious performance from the small Brazilian but he’ll be disappointed with how easily he was beaten by Azpilicueta for Chelsea’s second. GETTY 10/24 Raheem Sterling: 7 A better performance from the youngster who seemed to benefit from his midweek rest – caused Chelsea and Ivanovic in particular a lot of problems down the left flank. GETTY 11/24 Mario Balotelli: 5 Hard-working performance but again lacked any real quality in the final third. Getty 12/24 Joe Allen: 5 Made a couple of good surges forward but was unable to help his side equalise. Getty 13/24 Thibaut Courtois: 7 Commanding performance from the Blues stopper – his ability to effortlessly pluck the ball out of the air takes so much pressure of his defence. GETTY 14/24 Branislav Ivanovic: 6 – Looked a little vulnerable up against the pace of Raheem Sterling but provided his usual threat going forward down the right, particularly in tandem with Ramires during the first half. 15/24 Gary Cahill: 6 A lively day for the England centre-back – he deflected Can’s shot into his own goal before equalising for Chelsea just five minutes later. Defended well but was fortunate not to concede a penalty for a late hand-ball Getty 16/24 John Terry: 7 Commanding performance from the Chelsea captain – made number of vital blocks and headed clearances. 17/24 Cesar Azpilicueta: 8 Chosen by Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville as the best defender in the Premier League – the Spaniard lived up to his billing with a typically impeccable defensive play crowned with the assist for Costa’s winner. 18/24 Nemanja Matic: 8 By far the most impressive of the central midfielders on display – dominated the middle of the pitch and gained possession for his side on countless occasions before starting attacks. GETTY 19/24 Cesc Fabregas: 6 Not his finest display this season – was exposed a few times defensively and didn’t enjoy quite as much time on the ball as usual as Chelsea played more on the counter-attack. 20/24 Ramires: 7 Made a strong contribution on his return to the Chelsea starting XI – showed he can still be counted on to perform in big games. GETTY 21/24 Oscar: 6 Continues to cause all sorts of problems for the opposition in tandem with Eden Hazard – the pair are developing a near-telepathic understanding. GETTY 22/24 Eden Hazard: 6 Almost impossible to stop once he’s up and running – will be relieved that the chances he fluffed in the first half didn’t cost Chelsea on this occasion. Getty 23/24 Diego Costa: 7 Although Drogba has done a good job in his absence, Chelsea are a different animal with this man up front – he got one good chance and rifled it into the net under pressure. GETTY 24/24 Best off the bench - Willian: 5 Replaced Ramires soon after half-time and gave a typically disciplined performance – helped to protect Ivanovic from Sterling. Getty 1/24 Simon Mignolet: 7 Unlucky to be beaten by Cahill’s effort as his defence failed to clear – saved well from Hazard on a couple of occasions. GETTY 2/24 Glen Johnson: 7 Did well to foil Hazard on two occasions in the first-half as careless play from the Liverpool midfield left their defence exposed. GETTY 3/24 Dejan Lovren: 5 Perhaps a little fortunate to return to the side after the fine performance of Kolo Toure against Real Madrid – was generally a spectator to the battle between Skrtel and Costa. GETTY 4/24 Martin Skrtel: 6 Intriguing battle with Diego Costa – gave as good as he got but will ultimately feel he lost out as the Spaniard struck Chelsea’s winner. GETTY 5/24 Alberto Moreno: 6 Struggled to cope with the double-threat of Ramires and Ivanovic but stuck to his task well despite being put under a lot of pressure. 6/24 Steven Gerrard: 5 A solid but unspectacular performance from the Liverpool skipper – continues to fail to impact games as much as he would like to. Getty 7/24 Emre Can: 7 Got Liverpool off to a flyer with his deflected effort – a solid performance all round. 8/24 Jordan Henderson: 5 Perhaps suffering from burn out having been heavily relied upon in the opening months of the season – like his captain was overshadowed by Matic and Fabregas. GETTY 9/24 Philippe Coutinho: 5 Another industrious performance from the small Brazilian but he’ll be disappointed with how easily he was beaten by Azpilicueta for Chelsea’s second. GETTY 10/24 Raheem Sterling: 7 A better performance from the youngster who seemed to benefit from his midweek rest – caused Chelsea and Ivanovic in particular a lot of problems down the left flank. GETTY 11/24 Mario Balotelli: 5 Hard-working performance but again lacked any real quality in the final third. Getty 12/24 Joe Allen: 5 Made a couple of good surges forward but was unable to help his side equalise. Getty 13/24 Thibaut Courtois: 7 Commanding performance from the Blues stopper – his ability to effortlessly pluck the ball out of the air takes so much pressure of his defence. GETTY 14/24 Branislav Ivanovic: 6 – Looked a little vulnerable up against the pace of Raheem Sterling but provided his usual threat going forward down the right, particularly in tandem with Ramires during the first half. 15/24 Gary Cahill: 6 A lively day for the England centre-back – he deflected Can’s shot into his own goal before equalising for Chelsea just five minutes later. Defended well but was fortunate not to concede a penalty for a late hand-ball Getty 16/24 John Terry: 7 Commanding performance from the Chelsea captain – made number of vital blocks and headed clearances. 17/24 Cesar Azpilicueta: 8 Chosen by Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville as the best defender in the Premier League – the Spaniard lived up to his billing with a typically impeccable defensive play crowned with the assist for Costa’s winner. 18/24 Nemanja Matic: 8 By far the most impressive of the central midfielders on display – dominated the middle of the pitch and gained possession for his side on countless occasions before starting attacks. GETTY 19/24 Cesc Fabregas: 6 Not his finest display this season – was exposed a few times defensively and didn’t enjoy quite as much time on the ball as usual as Chelsea played more on the counter-attack. 20/24 Ramires: 7 Made a strong contribution on his return to the Chelsea starting XI – showed he can still be counted on to perform in big games. GETTY 21/24 Oscar: 6 Continues to cause all sorts of problems for the opposition in tandem with Eden Hazard – the pair are developing a near-telepathic understanding. GETTY 22/24 Eden Hazard: 6 Almost impossible to stop once he’s up and running – will be relieved that the chances he fluffed in the first half didn’t cost Chelsea on this occasion. Getty 23/24 Diego Costa: 7 Although Drogba has done a good job in his absence, Chelsea are a different animal with this man up front – he got one good chance and rifled it into the net under pressure. GETTY 24/24 Best off the bench - Willian: 5 Replaced Ramires soon after half-time and gave a typically disciplined performance – helped to protect Ivanovic from Sterling. Getty

The former Arsenal captain has played 15 of Chelsea's 17 matches this term, including playing the full 90 minutes against Maribor and Liverpool last week despite already suffering minor discomfort.

But he is delighted to be playing so much under manager Jose Mourinho, who signed him from Barcelona for £30m in the summer.

Speaking after playing through the pain barrier to help secure a 2-1 victory at Anfield on Saturday, he said: "I have missed this a lot (playing game after game). In my three years at Barcelona I played a lot, but I was always the first one to be substituted or coming from the bench. I was hardly ever playing 90, after 90, after 90.

"But this is my life, what I live for and I'm feeling better every time. I'm playing in a role that I have probably never played before which is more positional and there is more defending than in previous years, but I'm enjoying it.

MATCH REPORT: LIVERPOOL 1 CHELSEA 2

"It's about evolving as a player as well. I'm enjoying playing with fantastic players in a new position that I'm still getting to know to get 10 out of 10. Hopefully we will improve as a team as well over the next few games."

Chelsea's triumph over Liverpool means they have set a new club record of starting a season with 17 unbeaten matches.

They are now eight points clear of defending champions Manchester City, with their other expected main challengers Arsenal (12), Manchester United (13) and Liverpool (15) even further back.

Fabregas feels the win at Liverpool was a real statement of intent, especially after coming from behind.

He added: "We were as good as we were against Manchester City and Manchester United, but because we dropped points there in the last minutes those games are not seen that way.

"We showed great character at Liverpool, even more so because we were losing in the first minutes of the game.

"Everyone knows how had hard it is to come back from Anfield with a good result so we're happy."

Meanwhile, Andre Schurrle has also withdrawn from the Germany squad due to illness.