Chelsea suffered a 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification.
Chelsea’s chances of achieving a Premier League top-five finish took another blow as they fell to defeat by Arsenal.
The Blues suffered a 2-1 loss against the top-flight leaders at the Emirates Stadium. William Saliba and Jurrien Timber were on target for the Gunners either side of a Piero Hincapié own goal.
Chelsea dropped points for a third successive league game and stay sixth in the table - three points behind Liverpool with 10 fixtures remaining. To add to the London side’s woes, Pedro Neto was given a red card against Arsenal. His first booking was for decent before he hacked down Gabriel Martinelli, meaning Neto is suspended for Wednesday’s trip to Champions League rivals Aston Villa, who are fourth.
Head coach Liam Rosenior said: “It's disappointing for Pedro because he's a very, very good player and we want him on the pitch. Up to that moment, he was actually causing Arsenal so many problems. It's a frustrating thing for us, not just today, but we're going to miss him against Aston Villa. But it's not just Pedro. I think as a group, me as the leader as well, we have to take more accountability for some of the decision-making we're having in terms of our discipline and in terms of the moments of the goals, not just today, the goals we conceded. Some of them are just not acceptable at this level.
“You can fine players. It's not about the punishment. It's about finding the reason why. I don't think Pedro Neto today or Wes Fofana last week would have in that moment been thinking about, if I get a red card, I'm going to get fined. It's a focus and a concentration thing that we need to get right.
“I know the record of the club is not great from the start of the season, and now it's getting bad. We had 10 games when I was in where we didn't have these issues, but we've had two in two games. There's something deep-lying that we need to get to the bottom of. The thing is, for me, if we get to the bottom of those two main things, we can be a very, very good team and we can achieve all the things we want to achieve.
“I need to speak to the coaching staff, the staff around the club, the players, because it's not acceptable. Especially the last two games, we've caused our own issues, even here against a very good team. You can see there's a lot of good in our play. There's a lot of good technically, tactically, the quality of our play. But if we don't eradicate this, it's going to be the thing that costs us.”
Continue Reading