Chelsea boss insists his players were 'tired' during West Ham defeat

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has said that his players were 'tired' as they succumbed to their fourth defeat of the Premier League campaign on Saturday.

The Blues suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to struggling West Ham United, and this may have potentially ended the club's title defence as they could fall 14 points behind leaders Manchester City by the end of the weekend.

Conte's side lacked the cutting edge in the attacking department, and a Marko Arnautovic opener was sufficient to hand the Hammers a victory after Alvaro Morata missed a glorious chance to pull things level.

Speaking after the game, Conte told reporters, via ESPN: "Our start was bad but today we played a bit tired. To face one game every two games always with the same players is very difficult. And we have just started this period.

"You have to move the ball quickly. But I repeat, we saw today a bit of tiredness in my players, especially in the last pass, we did a lot of mistakes. We must be disappointed."

The loss was the Blues' second against relegation-threatened clubs after they suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace back in October. Chelsea will return to Premier League action on Tuesday night where they face off against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium.