Chelsea boss Graham Potter has delivered his assessment of the Blues’ 1-0 loss against Arsenal.
The Gunners took all three points in west London as Gabriel’s goal in the second half was enough to separate the two teams.
Potter’s side did have chances going forward beforehand, but ultimately they were unable to truly test their opposition’s defence in what was their second consecutive Premier League defeat.
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Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the subject of a lot of the buildup to the game, but the forward was unable to make an impact against his former side.
The result at Stamford Bridge now sees the hosts sit seventh in the Premier League table after 13 games, with Arsenal returning back to the top of the pile.
After what was a disappointing afternoon for Chelsea, head coach Potter delivered his verdict on the defeat at Stamford Bridge.
"We played against a team in a really good moment, a confident team, so credit to them,” said Potter to BT Sport.
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“The boys gave everything. We got into a few situations in the box but we missed that last little bit.
"Overall, Arsenal deserved to win. The goal is disappointing and over the course of the game, we don't have too many complaints at the result."
He added: "We have to look at where the two teams are at, Arsenal are in a good moment, and have worked together for a long time and we're in different phase. We tried to make it more of a London derby.
"We lacked quality, but the effort was there and we were beaten by the better team today. It was not a great goal from our perspective, we defended those moments quite well.
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"We didn't function as fluently as we would like. There are always two teams on the pitch, and you have to understand where they're from, and look at where they are at."
In the first half, Arsenal were the team who looked more like scoring, but even they were poor in front of goal for much of the opening 45 minutes.
Gabriel Jesus had a huge chance to give them the lead, but he sent his header wide and both sides went into the break level.
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Chelsea offered little afterwards and were soon punished for their efforts, with Gabriel making the most of some poor defending in the box from a corner to give the visitors the lead.
The Blues made changes in the hopes of finding an equaliser, but they produced little threat going forward during the rest of the match.
Soon enough, Chelsea fell to their second Premier League defeat in a row, leaving them five points adrift of the top four.
They next face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, before playing Newcastle away from home in their final game before the World Cup.
Topics: Graham Potter, Chelsea, Arsenal, Premier League, Football
Robert Calcutt