Sarri says Chelsea were not relaxed during victory over Fulham

Manager Maurizio Sarri blamed tension for Chelsea’s underwhelming performance in a 2-0 win over Premier League bottom club Fulham.

Pedro struck after four minutes yesterday after N’Golo Kante had dispossessed Jean Michael Seri – a passage of play described as a “present” by Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri.

Chelsea’s second goal came late on through substitute Ruben LoftusCheek, as Sarri lamented the failure to “kill” the contest.

“After the 1-0, the players on the pitch had a very good level of application, attention, but without trying to kill the match,” Sarri said. “We needed to kill the match before [we did]. I think today we were a little bit tense.”

Chelsea responded to their first loss of the competitive season, a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur ending an 18-game unbeaten streak, by beating PAOK Salonika in the UEFA Europa League last Thursday and following up by beating their west London rivals.

Sarri stressed the result was more important than the performance, having criticised his players’ display at Wembley. The Blues’ boss deflected the suggestion his comments may have contributed to any tension.

“I think against Tottenham 11 players played very badly, and so I thought that today it was natural to give them another chance,” Sarri added.

“Of course, it wasn’t easy, the days after Tottenham, for me or the players, but I think we have talked too much about that match. We lost a match after three months and a half. It can happen. The team reacted really very well in the Europa League. Today was more important, and I think in the mind of the players there was only one result.”

Ranieri, the former Chelsea and Leicester City boss, was taking charge of Fulham for only the second time. The Italian felt the performance was better than what he saw in his first game at the helm, a 3-2 win over Southampton, but he rued the early concession of a goal yesterday.

“It’s strange to say, but I think we played much better today than in the Southampton match,” said Ranieri. “At the beginning we gave a good present when we lost the ball and they scored on the counter-attack, but afterwards we reacted very well.

“When you concede a goal from the beginning, it’s difficult. I changed the diamond at half-time and played with two wingers. We created some problems for them, [and had some] good chances to draw the match. I’m satisfied with how we reacted, how we played, but now we want to improve.”