LONDON – Chelsea players remain supportive of manager Antonio Conte despite suffering a second successive three-goal defeat in the Premier League on Monday night, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has said.
Five days after losing 3-0 at home to Bournemouth, Chelsea’s defence of their league title hit a new low when they were beaten 4-1 at Watford.
The result left them fourth in the table, 19 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, and increased the pressure already mounting on their Italian manager.
“We believe in him and we believe in our team. We have two bad results and we just try to get back, regroup and just continue,” Courtois told club’s website.
“Obviously we are disappointed with the two results we have had in the last week, obviously it is not good, but we have to regroup in training, have heads high and continue the hard work and just continue what we were doing.”
Chelsea were reduced to 10 men against Watford when Tiemoue Bakayoko was sent off after half an hour and they fell behind to Troy Deeney’s penalty 12 minutes later.
Eden Hazard equalised eight minutes from time, but late goals from Daryl Janmaat, Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra condemned Chelsea to back-to-back three-goal defeats for the first time since 1995.
“We showed that we wanted to fight, even with 10 men, and that shows we have character,” Courtois added.
“But when you lose twice like that, it is not good and there are questions raised, but we go back to training with the manager, and training well and turn this situation around.”