Mauricio Pochettino has backed Chelsea to come back stronger after the club’s 3-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
Chelsea suffered their first defeat under Pochettino after losing at the London Stadium on Sunday, with the Blues unable to make their man advantage count after Nayef Aguerd’s red card for West Ham.
Carney Chukwuemeka scored his first Chelsea goal to bring the game level after Aguerd had scored an opener for West Ham, but Enzo Fernandez missed the chance to put Pochettino’s side ahead after his penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola.
Goals from Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta – either side of Aguerd’s dismissal – saw West Ham claim three points and Pochettino was disappointed that his side were unable to turn promising moments into a result.
“That’s football. Teams like us, we need to get the right balance,” he told Sky Sports.
“I think today there were a few actions we didn’t manage well and we concede. We create many chances and we did well in the first half. We should have won the game with our first half.
“In the second half with another isolated action we concede again. To find the space to create clear chances [is difficult] but overall it is this type of game that is difficult to explain. You had the possession, you create and maybe you were the better side but in the end you lose.
“It was the frustration when we miss the penalty. We were playing well and we didn’t get the reward. We start the second half a little bit with this belief until we started again to play. Also the injury to Carney Chukwuemeka changed a little bit the shape of the team. Then we start again to dominate the game but again we concede. We need to be more strong in this type of situation because we knew West Ham sit deep and counter-attack and set-pieces are really dangerous.
“Disappointed but this is only the beginning. We need to believe in the process. I think we are going to be stronger and for sure be really competitive.”
