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Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta sends message to team-mates after Leicester defeat
CESAR AZPILICUETA has said that Chelsea need to navigate their way around the busy Christmas period as he lamented the Blues’ ‘disappointing’ loss to Leicester on Saturday afternoon.
Maurizio Sarri’s men succumbed to the Foxes at Stamford Bridge in a dismal 1-0 defeat.
The loss came on the same afternoon that Manchester City lost at home to Crystal Palace.
The Chelsea boss will feel that his side missed to chance to close the gap on their league rivals.
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Azpilicueta noted after the game that his side were disappointing but created chances.
“This was really disappointing [the loss], we had chances to score a goal and to win the game but the truth is that they were efficient, they scored and they held the result until the end,” he said.
“We finished the first half very well, we had chances, we were dangerous, we started the second half well but after five or six minutes we conceded the goal.”
Jamie Vardy scored the only goal of the game as Claude Puel’s men seemed to shut-up-shop and hold on to their lead.
Azpilicueta noted this, describing the toughness of the Premier League in what was a frustrating afternoon for the Blues.
“They were very comfortable with the 1-0 lead and they defended well and obviously we tried to find a solution to score but we were not able to score,” he added.
“We know that the Premier League is very tough, our goal is to win every game, and we are disappointed about today.”
Chelsea now face Watford on Boxing day before playing Crystal Palace just days later.
The 29-year-old Spaniard said that his side had to make sure they were ready for a busy Christmas schedule.
“We have to analyse and look to our next games. This period is very busy so we have another tough game and we have to be ready to try and win another three points,” he said.
“We don’t have another option we have to analyse and carry on the things we did well.
“We have two away games to finish the year and hopefully we can get the points because we need them.”