Loftus-Cheek rues ´sloppy´ Chelsea display

Ruben Loftus-Cheek felt Chelsea were punished for a “sloppy” second half in a surprise 2-1 loss to Wolves in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Loftus-Cheek’s deflected opener had Maurizio Sarri’s side on track at Molineux, only for the hosts to strike twice shortly after the break.

Goals from Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota saw Wolves end a six-match winless run as Chelsea slipped to fourth in the table, 10 points behind leaders Manchester City.

And Loftus-Cheek, who made his first league start of the season as one of five changes, lamented his team’s mistakes.

“We felt in control first half, felt comfortable and were playing some good football,” he said.

“But they came out fast second half and we were sloppy as a team. In the Premier League, if you’re sloppy you pay for it and that’s what happened.”

The Blues are beaten this evening.#WOLCHE pic.twitter.com/NhQaqba1TI

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 5, 2018

With an important clash against Manchester City coming up at home on Saturday, Sarri opted to leave Jorginho and David Luiz on the bench, while Mateo Kovacic was a second-half substitute.

But Loftus-Cheek said that was no excuse for Chelsea, urging his team to respond against the league leaders.

“We train every day as a team and we should expect to play well whoever plays,” he said.

“We have to take this loss and turn it around quickly because we have a tough game on the weekend. We need to move on very quickly.

“We’re very disappointed, it’s a period with a lot of games and points at stake. We’ll pick our heads up and go again.”