Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that his players may have been fatigued as they lost 2-1 to Manchester United in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
The Blues travelled to Old Trafford with confidence having posted a 3-2 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, despite playing with 10 men from the end of the first half.
However, Chelsea were unable to replicate that performance and effort versus United, who started fast and ultimately prevailed courtesy of two Scott McTominay goals.
Cole Palmer had equalised for the visitors shortly before half time, but Chelsea were largely second best to their hosts throughout the encounter at the Theatre of Dreams.
Pochettino acknowledged as much after the match, yet the Argentine pointed to Chelsea's effort against Brighton when they played for over an hour at a man disadvantage when added-on time was taken into account.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, as quoted by football.london, the Argentine said: "Disappointed because we didn't start the game well and the feeling is they start better than us, more energy than us, we didn't match their energy. I think they were better. If we talk about overall, I think they were better than us.
© Reuters
"I think we create chances enough, we draw the first half 1-1, we had some good chances that we should score and be more clinical, that was the problem. Second half we start well but then we concede and of course then we miss the energy to be more aggressive.
"We had some chances but not enough to be in the game again. Overall, I think my feeling is that they were better than us and deserve the three points."
He added: "To play against Brighton with one less for 60 minutes, I think maybe affects a little bit the energy and the performances of the players.
"Then we need to recover, too many players injured, we need to recover them as soon as possible to be more competitive and to have options and to help the team achieve what we want."
As a result of losing to United, Chelsea remain in 10th position in the standings, but now eight points adrift of their sixth-placed opponents.
Chelsea are back in action on Sunday when they square off against Everton - who will have 24 hours less to prepare due to their fixture with Newcastle United on Thursday - at Goodison Park.
No Data Analysis info
