Christian Pulisic felt that Chelsea were missing "a little something" in Saturday's defeat to West Ham United and says that overcoming consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time this season will be a big test of their character.
The American ended up as a false nine in Saturday's loss to the Hammers at Stamford Bridge, as Frank Lampard's side struggled to create in the absence of Tammy Abraham.
With Aston Villa visiting on Wednesday evening, however, the Blues have an opportunity to put things right fast and Pulisic is confident they can turn it around.
"In the season that is what happens - there are ups and downs," he said. "Obviously we have had a few months now where people have said how well we've done and how everything has been going great.
"I wish it would stay like that the whole year but it's not the case so now a couple of tougher results and we just have to go try and turn it around.
"Tough times really test your character. Things aren't going amazing, I would say this isn't the worst thing but now luckily in this league we get another game midweek so we get a chance to redeem ourselves."
Abraham's absence because of a bruised hip robbed Chelsea of their attacking focal point and rotation seems inevitable during this busy run, with several players already showing some wear and tear.
Olivier Giroud, who started in place of Abraham, and Pedro both struggled to make an impact against West Ham having spent most of the campaign on the sidelines but Pulisic believes that the squad's depth is good and should have no factor on the team's results.
"I mean we have different guys who can come in, we had the fresh guys come in [on Saturday]. We have a full squad and a very fit squad so it shouldn't be an issue," he added.
"Of course, [Abraham] has done well for us this season but we have other guys who can step up. Oli [Giroud], he trains great and he's a great player - he was a bit unfortunate [against West Ham], so we'll see."
Pulisic has scored six times in his past eight games and was moved inside when Giroud was taken off on Saturday while Michy Batshuayi remained on the bench.
"We’ll see," Lampard said when asked if he is likely to use the 21-year-old in that role again. "He does have an ability to run behind the line and to be sharp in central areas, which will naturally get him more goals. I am not going to say right now if that is the solution but we will see as we go forward."
