Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says his players received a reality check after they were beaten 1-0 by West Ham. The Hammers came into the match without a win since September 22 against Manchester United. They were also forced to give a Premier League debut to third-choice keeper David Martin after a string of poor displays by Roberto.
But boss Manuel Pellegrini was given a major boost as his players produced a resilient and hard-working display to earn their first victory at Chelsea for 17 years.
The home side dominated possession, 19 shots on goal and nine corners but were made to pay for their profligacy.
Aaron Cresswell scored the only goal when he fired a low shot past Kepa Arrizabalaga just three minutes after half-time.
Chelsea remain fourth in the table but are now 14 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool.
It is also back to back league defeats for Lampard’s side and after the match, he felt his players had received a wake-up call.
“Sometimes you can have down days,” he said on Chelsea TV.
“The process that we are in, I think today might not be the worst.
“I hate losing, I hate losing against West Ham in a London derby. “I hate the feeling of it. But it might be a reality check for all of us.
“That there is work to be done across the board because this Premier League is tough and we felt that today.”
Despite Lampard’s philosophical assessment, he was unable to hide his disappointment at the defeat.
Lampard said: “Generally we were down. We were below par. I didn’t expect that today. I brought in some players to freshen it up.
“We knew West Ham like a lot of team would come here and defend well, give it everything and be organised against us.
“But we didn’t show enough. As simple as that. Not good enough in terms of what we created.
“I think all three games this week, I haven’t been that happy with our final third stuff.
“Man City, we got there a lot and didn’t find the right cross, pass, shot. Same against Valencia, many times to score more goals.
“Not quite as much today so I different type of feeling but at the same time we have to be better in the boxes.”