Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has sent a message of defiance after the Blues were beaten for the first time this season. Manchester City took all three points from their visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime, Gabriel Jesus scoring the winner thanks to a significant deflection off the leg of Jorginho.
Caesar Azpilicueta said: “Not our best game today with a defeat that hurts but we win and we lose together! Thank you for your support, we go again on Wednesday!”
Thomas Tuchel also bemoaned his side’s display but gave Manchester City credit for forcing errors from his side, also saying that they lacked belief.
Thomas Tuchel said: “Part of performance is to make an opponent underperform and that is what City did today. They were stronger, sharper, had more precision. .I had a feeling we lacked belief and confidence to escape in the situations that it was possible to escape. With every mistake, we lost more confidence. This can happen. In the end, we defended our box and goal very well but we were too deep. Like I said, the game is so complex, you need a good performance at every level if you want to deserve a result. This was not the case today so we have to accept it and keep on going.”
Wednesday night sees Chelsea travel to Italy for the second match of their Champions League defence, Juventus their menacing opponents on the continent. Next weekend then sees Southampton visit west London with Tino Livramento likely to return to his former club when they do. Reece James limped out of Chelsea’s clash with City after a collision with Jack Grealish, leading to some fans calling for the return of Livramento already, with a buyback option reported to be included in the summer deal.
