N’Golo Kante criticised Chelsea’s game management after they slipped to a last-gasp defeat at Wolves.
Pedro Neto’s injury-time winner condemned Frank Lampard’s side to a 2-1 loss at Molineux on Tuesday.
Victory would have taken them top of the Premier League but Chelsea slipped to a second straight defeat after a 1-0 reverse at Everton on Saturday.
“Even if we were not playing great, we were one goal ahead so we could have managed the game and kept the difference,” Kante told the club’s official site.
“In the first half, they had five at the back and were defending very well so we weren’t able to have many chances. We were happy to score with our first shot on target but we didn’t manage the result well.
“When they scored, we tried to come back but by trying to win the game we conceded many counter-attacks and they scored a late goal.
“We managed to score the first goal so to finish the game by losing hurts us and it’s a big disappointment.”
Daniel Podence cancelled out Olivier Giroud’s second-half opener while Kurt Zouma also hit the bar for the visitors.
Podence and Neto have now scored 53.8 per cent of Wolves’ 13 goals this season with Raul Jimenez out with the fractured skull he suffered at Arsenal last month.
Neto told the club’s official site: “It was very important. We came from two losses but we are very happy with the game. I’m happy for the team. The work that the team did, it was amazing.
“We want to win so much that we work so hard. We were down one goal but the mentality of this team is to continue and to get the three points and we are very happy.
“We’ve worked hard since day one, we’ve worked hard since the last loss because we want to get three points in this game.”
Neto also had a late penalty overturned after Stuart Attwell reversed his decision when the forward went down under Reece James’ challenge.
“I will be honest, for me, even the ref, he heard the touch but it was his decision,” he told the club’s official site.
“We can’t do anything about that, we only want to work on what we control, so we passed the penalty, we got the victory, and that’s what is important this time.”
