Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca was left ruing the ending of their match against Fulham after his side conceded late goals to suffer a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge and lose ground in the title race.
The Blues looked set to close the gap to Liverpool but goals from Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz mean that Chelsea are now seven points behind Arne Slot's side, who beat Leicester City 3-1, and have played one fewer match.
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Reflecting on the result, Maresca said: "To concede the goal we conceded at the end, it is a bad feeling. I said many times when you can't win, it's important you don't lose.
"The first 15 minutes of the second half was the point I didn't like - we conceded so many transitions.
"We know they are a team building from transitions. First half we controlled that very good, second half we gave them too much energy.
"It's difficult to find a team with so many players that can run a lot. Before you attack you have to make passes and then we are together. It's a lesson we can learn. If they attack quick and we attack quick it becomes a basketball game.
"The reality: we can see there are many things we can do better. For sure tonight one of the things is game management. But also I think we did many good things. I didn't see the players with pressure [of a title race]."
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
17 | +23 | 42 |
| 2 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
18 | +17 | 35 |
| 3 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
18 | +5 | 34 |
| 4 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
17 | +18 | 33 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
18 | +9 | 29 |
Palmer: We knew we weren't going to win every game
Chelsea's goalscorer Cole Palmer recognised where his side are in the title race, admitting that they are still learning under Maresca.
"We knew we weren't going to win every game we play. It's the manager's first season with us...we're learning," Palmer told Amazon Prime.
"Everyone said from the start we're not title contenders, we're just playing and trying to get better as a team, growing and that's what we're doing as a team.
"He [Maresca] said it's a good opportunity to learn, rest, recover and play [again] in three days.
"It's football, it happens, it's one of those games where we lost control for 20 minutes and they scored two. So well done to Fulham."
Chelsea's next five PL fixtures
Silva: Our speech was about breaking the record
Fulham head coach Marco Silva revealed that their motivation lied in ending their winless record at Stamford Bridge, a ground they had not won at since October 1979.
"From the beginning of December, our unbeaten run keeps going. Our speech before the game was about breaking this record [at Stamford Bridge]," Silva said.
"We wanted to give this happiness to our fans on Boxing Day, a special day, and for the next few days them to have this feeling.
"We were without four or five players. We tried to do something different. But we showed we have been growing.
"The group is responding really well, the players from the bench made another big impact. Our fans deserve the feeling they have right now. This result is not going to change our ambitions."
