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LONDON (AP) – Chelsea manager Frank Lampard let his players tear themselves apart after their 3-1 Premier League loss to Arsenal London on Saturday (December 26), saying their “weak” performance It had cost them the opportunity to finish second in the Premier League.
A penalty from Alexandre Lacazette and goals from Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka helped young Arsenal seal their first league win in nearly two months.
“It was an opportunity to go second against a team that is going through a difficult time,” Lampard, whose team fell to seventh, told Sky Sports.
“Either he makes it difficult for him or he gives them a bit of an opening and we did it from minute one and we continued for 45 minutes. It was lazy to give away a penalty and lazy to give away a free kick that he (Xhaka) hits in the top corner.”
Chelsea improved in the second half and scored in the 85th minute through Tammy Abraham to make it 3-1 before Jorginho missed a penalty with bad effort.
“We fought … but in the first half we gave ourselves too much to do … I will take responsibility on the outside but the players also have to take responsibility,” added Lampard.
“The message was clear, Arsenal are a dangerous team. When you go out and play 60 or 70%, you are not going to win any Premier League games.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he was delighted with the victory that brought his team to 14th place.
“There is nothing better than winning a London derby against Chelsea on Boxing Day,” he said. “Hopefully this is a turning point. I know they can play at this level.
“Let’s keep going. We still have great things to improve.”
