Frank Lampard Says Chelsea Must Face 'Home Truths' After Everton Defeat

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard wants his team to learn from their mistakes after they slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Everton on Saturday.

The Toffees went ahead through goals from Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Mateo Kovacic pulled a goal back before Calvert-Lewin made sure of the win late on:

Per Chelsea's official website, Lampard said:

"There are home truths all the time, whatever game you play, and players consistently need to hear that.

"I have a good bunch, and in the Premier League, with the competitive nature of it, there are going to be difficult patches and times when you lose games.

"It is certainly not the end of the world, but it is important that we take on board lessons from games like Saturday and West Ham [United], because we had a week when we were poor, fantastic, and poor again, so that lack of consistency is not going to get us where we want to be."

The coach added his players should expect "physical contact" in such matches and "direct" balls into the box.

Their opponents came into the game in the bottom three having suffered three consecutive defeats.

As Sky Sports' Adam Bate demonstrated, Everton—in interim boss Duncan Ferguson's first game in charge after Marco Silva was sacked on Thursday—were fired up for this game, though:

Goal's Nizaar Kinsella was unimpressed with Chelsea's performance at Goodison Park:

Lampard's side made a number of defensive errors, the most egregious of which led to Calvert-Lewin's first goal after Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen both failed to clear their lines.

At the other end, only four of the visitors' 15 shots were on target.

The Blues haven't struggled too much in an attacking sense this season. Only Liverpool, Leicester City and Manchester City have scored more than their 31 Premier League goals.

However, they've had plenty of trouble at the back. Chelsea have shipped 24 goals in the Premier League this season, which is the worst defensive record in the top 11.

They have kept just three clean sheets in 16 league games this season—and only four in all competitions—and they came against Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion, who have only scored a combined total of 51 goals.

Chelsea are still fourth, five points clear of Manchester United in fifth, but they'll struggle to remain on course for UEFA Champions League qualification if they don't rectify their issues at the back.