Chelsea coach Frank Lampard left his players torn apart after their 3-1 loss to London rivals Arsenal on Saturday, saying their ‘lazy’ performance cost them the chance to finish second in the Premier League.
A penalty from Alexandre Lacazette and goals from Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka helped a young Arsenal side seal their first league victory in nearly two months.
“It was the opportunity to come second against a team going through a difficult time,” said Lampard, whose team fell seventh to Sky Sports.
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“Either you make it hard for them or you give them a little opening and we did it from the first minute and went on for 45 minutes. It was lazy to give a penalty and lazy to give a free kick that he [Xhaka] puts in the top corner. ”
Chelsea improved in the second half and scored in the 85th minute thanks to Tammy Abraham to make it 3-1 before Jorginho missed a penalty with mediocre effort.
“We fought… but in the first half, we gave ourselves too much to do… I will take responsibilities away from home but the players must also take their responsibilities,” added Lampard.
“The message was clear, Arsenal are a dangerous team. When you play at 60% or 70%, you are not going to win Premier League games. “
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he was delighted with the victory which lifted his side to 14th place.
“There is nothing better than winning a London derby against Chelsea on Boxing Day,” he said. “I hope this is a turning point. I know they can play at this level.
” Let’s go on. We still have great things to improve. “
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