Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said his side got what they deserved in a shock 3-1 loss to Leeds United on Wednesday that dealt a blow to their hopes of challenging for the Premier League title.
The defeat came just three days after his team of 10 men battled gamely to hold Premier League leaders Arsenal to a 1-1 draw. But Maresca’s team have now dropped to fourth place and nine points adrift of Arsenal.
– Premier League as it happened: Sunderland-Liverpool draw, Leeds stun Chelsea
“A very poor night,” Maresca told a news conference. “They [Leeds] deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects.”
Leeds led 2-0 at halftime following goals by Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka. Pedro Neto reduced the deficit in the 50th, but a defensive mistake by Tosin Adarabioyo led to Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin tapping in to make it 3-1.
“There is nothing that we can take from this game,” Maresca added. “The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistake we have done, try to reset, because in 48 hours we have one more game.
“I hope that we had a bad night because they were on the ball, off the ball, second ball, they were much better than us in all the aspects.”
Maresca revealed he withdrew Estêvão at the interval after the frustrated teenage Brazil international had received a yellow card for kicking out at Gabriel Gudmundsson.
“I think the feeling with Estêvão was, you know, a little bit ‘welcome to Leeds,'” Maresca said.
“Sometimes aged 18, you struggle to manage emotion, so it was better to change him and to avoid any red card.”
One positive for Chelsea was the return of playmaker Cole Palmer, who came on as a second-half substitute for his first appearance in more than two months because of a groin injury.
Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.