Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah said it was frustrating for his team to lose 1-0 to Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. He also admitted that Liam Rosenior’s team might be tired.
Anthony Gordon’s goal in the 18th minute made the difference in that game. Tino Livramento’s sharp pass split Chelsea’sdefence, and Joe Willock ran through without being stopped before setting up Gordon to finish into an empty net.
Chelsea had the ball most of the time and made a few half-chances, but they never really looked like they would score an equaliser. Newcastle were the first team in all competitions to not give up a goal at Stamford Bridge since the season started seven months ago. The Blues only had three shots on target, while Newcastle had five. This shows how dull the Blues’ attack was that day.
Chalobah talked about how hard the result was after the game and how busy the schedule was:
“It was just one of those games. We created a lot of chances, had a lot of possession. It was just that final bit that didn’t go our way, which happens in football.”
“There are a lot of games in this period. We just have to play game by game. We put a lot into the Champions League game. Maybe we can say fatigue is kicking in, but we just have to focus on the next game.”
The 26-year-old’s comments come after a long week for Chelsea, who lost 5-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 just a few days earlier.
Rosenior’s team have only won one of their last five Premier League games, and they could drop to sixth place by the end of the weekend. Chelsea are three points behind Aston Villa and Manchester United, having played one more game. This is a big blow to their hopes of finishing in the top four.
Chalobah Sets His Sights on “Really Important” PSG Second Leg
Chalobah says that even though they lost, the team’s focus have already moved on to Tuesday’s huge second leg against PSG at Stamford Bridge, where they need to make up a three-goal deficit to stay in Europe’s top competition:
“We want to be in the Champions League and competing in the best competition. Tuesday [against PSG] is going to be really important, and the league is as well.”
Chelsea have a tough job ahead of them: they need to come back from a three-goal deficit after losing the first leg in Paris 5-2. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored twice in the last few minutes, and Vitinha took advantage of a mistake by the custodian to give the defending champions a strong lead in the tie.
Manager Liam Rosenior has said that his approach will always be to attack. He wants his team to be fearless and dominate no matter who they are playing against. Chelsea will have to turn that fearlessness into goals on Tuesday if they want to keep their hopes of playing in Europe this season.