Frank
Lampard insisted his Chelsea team are still on a learning curve after their
Premier League title pursuit was hit by a 1-0 defeat to Everton on Saturday.
Chelsea were unbeaten in nine league outings going into the Goodison Park
clash and would have gone top of the table with victory, but they could find
no way back from Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half penalty, after Edouard Mendy
took out Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
After the match, Lampard said he would be looking for a response from his
side when they go to Wolves on Tuesday but conceded losses such as this one
can happen to a developing side.
"I feel we could've got something out of the game but we didn't pepper their
goal," he said. "We had the opportunities to get at least a point but we
weren't at our best. Once it went to 1-0, we gave ourselves a problem and we
didn't do enough to break them down.
"Edouard has been fantastic since he's been here, but I don't think it was
just his mistake. The mentality of the whole team wasn't good to cut out the
ball. When you give them a head start in this stadium, against this team,
it's very difficult. It wasn't really us for the first time in a while.
"I keep reading how we've got the strongest squad in the league but I don't
understand it. The teams who have won the league in recent years have squads
that are littered with wingers who have scored a lot of goals but we're in a
position where we are a work in progress.
"We will have nights like this. I don't like them but we will have to bounce
back strong. Let's see what happens on Tuesday."
Chelsea were without wingers Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic at Everton
due to injuries and Lampard said the strain of the fixture list has taken
its toll on his most explosive players.
"[Pulisic] was uncomfortable during the week so he couldn't play and we did
miss our wingers," said Lampard.
"There are muscle injuries all over the Premier League. We want to see these
players, but I think this comes back to the issue of five subs which will
come up later in the week. It's about player welfare.
"Players who are explosive and at the top end of the pitch are getting
injured all over the Premier League. Everyone can use their squads in these
unprecedented times. Did we miss our wide players? Yes, we did because
they're important players for us."
Ancelotti: Defence was really good
Everton had won just one of their previous seven Premier League games, with
their fast start to the season undone by a mixture of injuries and poor
performances in recent weeks, and boss Carlo Ancelotti was understandably
delighted to pull off a victory against his former club.
Ancelotti - who said the 2,000 fans in Goodison "made a lot of difference" -
was particularly pleased with his team's defensive display - led by an
impressive performance from centre-back Michael Keane - which saw Everton
register their first clean sheet since the opening day of the season at
Tottenham.
"We needed this performance and these points," said Ancelotti. "After a
difficult period, we're able to move on and we're showing more consistency.
The performance was really good. You cannot beat Chelsea without a good
performance.
"Defensively we were really good. We didn't give up many opportunities, just
two outside of the box. I think we were really well organised with defenders
and midfielders. The way the team fought was top-class.
"We have a really tough game coming up on Wednesday [at Leicester] so I hope
I see the same attitude and spirit. We won today because of the spirit not
because of the way we played. I want to see that spirit again against
Leicester."
What's next?
Everton travel to face Leicester on Wednesday at 6pm while Chelsea are at
Wolves a day earlier; kick-off at Molineux is at 6pm.
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