Chelsea boss slams horrible 15-minute spell versus Arsenal

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has admitted that the club had a horrible 15-minute spell against Arsenal where things could have panned differently.

The Blues took a quick 2-0 lead in the first half after goals from Pedro and Alvaro Morata but they were soon pegged back with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi levelling the scores before the break.

Despite this, the Blues managed to come back in style with a strong second half performance with Marcos Alonso scoring the match-defining goal in the 81st minute of the game.

Speaking after the derby, Sarri highlighted the disappointing phase during the first half where the Gunners could have quite easily taken the game away from the Blues.

He told BBC Sport: "For 15 minutes, we were horrible. It was very, very difficult because we lost the distances between the players and we were unable to cover the lost balls and press like a team.

"So we were really in trouble.But I think the players were really very good because at 2-2 it was not easy with Arsenal. In the second half we did very well also mentally."

The victory was the Blues' first against the Gunners since March 2017 and this has witnessed them jump to the top of the league standings after the first two games of the campaign.