‘Chelsea deserve the loss’ – concerned Lampard after defeat to Brighton

Frank Lampard has stated that Chelsea deserved to be beaten by Brighton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The 2-1 victory for Brighton came courtesy of goals scored by Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso and Lampard was left concerned by the performance of his team.

This was Chelsea’s fifth Premier League game without a win, and the defeat left them languishing in the bottom-half.

"It was the most deserved one," Lampard said.  More than defeats it is performance we have to talk about.

"Results only come with performance. This is a really good Brighton team, so we must give them credit. But we were a yard short, a tackle short, a fight in a duel short, and when that's not right, you're not going to win games."

The interim boss pointed out what things the Blues need in order to climb the ladder.

"We need to turn that around quickly," he added.

"It's for me to try to get to the bottom of it quickly. We need training time, but we don't have training time. For things that are a must for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - sprints, recovery runs… it wasn't really there [on Saturday]. From that performance, we certainly have work to do.

"I can't say it wasn't a bad game, and we didn't deserve to lose, the players wouldn't expect that. The only thing that matters now is a reaction."

The defeat came ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final return leg against Real Madrid.

"What matters is what we deliver on the pitch. What I say won't change what the fans are like when Real Madrid come to Stamford Bridge," he concluded.

"I know they'll come and support us positively. We have to fight, that's the bare minimum."

Meanwhile, having failed to beat Chelsea in any of their first 14 league meetings (D4 L10), Brighton have now won back-to-back games against the Blues, after their 4-1 victory in the reverse fixture in October.

Chelsea are winless in four Premier League home games (D2 L2), their worst such run since their final five home games of the 2015-16 season (D1 L4), when they finished 10th.