Cesar Azpilicueta explains how Chelsea allowed Man City to "dominate" them
Chelsea captain Cezar Azpilicueta has been left rueing the "many mistakes" which led to him and his team-mates suffering defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday.
The Blues failed to register a single shot on target throughout the home game, and were miles away from the brilliant best they have shown up to now this season.
It was a wake-up call for Chelsea, who were comfortably second best to City throughout – a fact not lost on Azpilicueta.
"We are disappointed with the result, it was not our best performance," the Spaniard told Chelsea FC.
"Especially in the first 60 minutes it was hard to get out. We didn’t create chances, we lost the ball too easily. They dominated us.
"After the goal we had a good reaction, we pushed a bit but it was not enough to get something from the game. Sometimes when you play against tough opponents they play well, they are at their best level.
"We could not keep the ball as we like to do or get out of the pressure and find some spaces. We made so many mistakes in terms of passing, in terms of touches. We tried to stay in the game but from a short corner we lost the game."
The result saw Chelsea leapfrogged by City in the Premier League table, the two sides level on points but the Manchester club ahead on goal difference.
They are joined by Manchester United and Everton on 13 points, with Liverpool just sticking their noses in front of the chasing pack, one point ahead after their 3-3 draw at Brentford.
Despite the Blues' first slip up of the league season, Azpilicueta's focus remains very much on a title fight.
"Every competition is different, every game is a new challenge," he said.
"Against City we lost, we are disappointed, we had the chance to get three important points but now we have to analyse it, improve on what we did not do that well and move on to the next game because it is a long season.
"We did not lose the league on Saturday, just as if we had won we knew we did not win the league on Saturday, so we have to keep working."
Chelsea's attention turns next to Juventus in the Champions League, and Tuchel has been handed a boost ahead of that one due to injury-enforced absence for Bianconeri pair Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata.
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