AFC Bournemouth visit Chelsea on Tuesday night, three days after a hugely disappointing 4-1 loss against the Bees at the weekend.
That result saw the Cherries’ poor run extend to nine games without a win, the last victory coming against Nottingham Forest 65 days ago at the end of October.
The 2-0 win over the Tricky Trees at the Vitality Stadium propelled the Cherries to second in the league, with 18 points from nine games.
But a dire run of form since has seen them tumble down the table, with Iraola’s side now sat 15th.
There seemed to be something of a turn in performances just a few weeks ago when the Cherries last met Chelsea on December 6.
They bounced back from a poor 1-0 loss to Everton with a 0-0 draw against the Blues, before a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Andoni Iraola. (Image: Richard Crease)
But the Cherries rued missed chances to draw 1-1 with Burnley the following week, conceding a 90th minute goal, before being comfortably beaten by Brentford at the weekend.
Iraola will be hoping for a similar response to the one he got after the Everton defeat on Tuesday night, but he knows it is a tough task.
“We don't have a lot of time,” he said, previewing the trip to Chelsea after the Bees defeat.
“In two days, we are here again in London and ready to play against Chelsea.
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“We've just recently played against them. We have to be at our very best to get something at Stamford Bridge. If you are okay or just quite good, it's not going to be enough.
“You have to be at the best of your levels. We definitely have to improve our first half today and our defence [has to be] much more solid.
“I think we defended really well against them, the 0-0 at home. It's going to be difficult to keep them out again and keep them on no goals.
“But at least we need to improve today's performance defensively because otherwise it's going to be very difficult.”
Andoni Iraola. (Image: Richard Crease)
On Chelsea’s threats, Iraola said: “I think they are a team that especially offensively they score goals very easy.
“They don't need a lot of things to score because they have so many threats that if it's not one, someone appears always in their games.
“Even games where they are not [on top], I think against Newcastle you start losing but someone appears. It's not a free kick and they have so many players.
“And also they can with the subs keep the level for 90 minutes because it's okay.
“Normally they change the wingers, they change the number nine, but the level still is top level. So they can keep the energy for the whole game. And for us definitely it's going to be a challenging game.”