After Chelsea suffered yet one more red card in defeat to Arsenal, captain Reece James admitted the Blues have a discipline issue.
The Gunners went five points clear at the highest of the Premier League again after a 2-1 victory over the Blues on the Emirates.
William Saliba and Jurrien Timber scored the goals for the house team, either side of a Piero Hincapie own goal just before half-time.
It was a good game with all three goals coming from corners and never a terrific deal of creativity from open play on either side.
Chelsea were left upset to depart with nothing, but only have themselves accountable as they played the last 20 minutes with 10 men, because of Pedro Neto’s red card.
The winger lunged in on Gabriel Martinelli to earn himself a second yellow and pick up Chelsea’s seventh red card within the Premier League this season and ninth in all competitions.
It’s a extremely poor disciplinary record and James admits it’s an issue which the Blues must solve.
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‘We’ve spoken about it, it’s come up various times, each time it’s someone different, not the identical player,’ James told Sky Sports.
‘Internally we want to review and keep improving. It’s an issue, we’re playing within the hardest league on this planet, you play against top or bottom 11 v 11 it’s tough, 11 v 10 is even harder irrespective of who you might be playing.
‘I even have little question within the team and staff, it didn’t go our way today but we want to regroup and go again.’
Blues boss Liam Rosenior was frustrated and upset with the result, which was his third defeat to Arsenal since taking up at Stamford Bridge in January.
On Chelsea’s red card issues, the manager said: ‘It’s a difficult things to place your finger on. We receives a commission to try to win games of football.
‘In the event you don’t think we’ve got tried to deal with that it’s crazy. We are attempting to deal with it.
‘Sometimes you’ve got to learn from consequence and the pain.
‘I felt the consequence of the pain of losing points against Leeds and Burnley when 2-0 up would switch us on against a excellent set-play team.
‘It hasn’t and that has been probably the most frustrating thing about this afternoon. We come off the pitch with no points.
‘I don’t wish to discuss all the nice things we did in the sport – of which there was quite a bit – after we haven’t got anything from the sport. It’s a extremely frustrating one today.’
He added: ‘Ultimately it’s a bitterly disappointing day because we got here here with a game plan we felt we could execute.
‘Again we haven’t because we haven’t had good discipline and we conceded two goals from set-plays.’
Chelsea are left sixth within the Premier League on a foul day for them as Manchester United climbed to 3rd with a win over Crystal Palace.
The Blues are actually three points behind Liverpool in fifth and 6 behind Aston Villa in fourth.
Arsenal, in contrast, are flying high at the highest of the table, five points clear again, although second-placed Manchester City have a game in hand.
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