Reece James admitted that Chelsea were responsible for their own downfall as Aston Villa came from behind to win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.Â
The Blues dominated the opening half and took the lead through a fortuitous João Pedro goal from a James corner after 37 minutes.
But the game flipped on its head when super sub Ollie Watkins equalised just over an hour into the match. The striker went on to score the winner late on to stretch the gap between Chelsea and Villa to ten points.
Reece James admits Chelsea ‘have ourselves to blame’ for Villa defeat
“I think it’s always disappointing to lose at home,” James told Sky Sports. “We dominated 60, 65 minutes of the game. The first 60 minutes they didn’t create any chances, and then they get one and then the game changes.
“I think we came out sharp the way we set up. The way we wanted to play on the front foot in the right way and second half one or two moments changed the game. They picked up momentum and it was difficult.
“They made substitutions. The shape maybe changed slightly but nothing we shouldn’t be able to deal with. We’ve played them numerous times and we understand the style and the way they want to play but I think we need to look at ourselves. We wanted to win and we didn’t, and we’re super disappointed.”
Asked what Chelsea should have done better, James replied: “Keep the ball out of the net. It’s as simple as that. We made one or two errors. One error leads to the corner and the other error leads to Ollie’s [Watkins] first goal, so I think we have ourselves to blame. Two errors from us and we got punished. This is the toughest league in the world.”
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