Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount has warned his colleagues that they cannot start games as slowly as they did against Everton if they want to challenge for Premier League titles.
Mount was part of the Blues side that saw their 17-game unbeaten run come to an end with a 1-0 loss against the Toffees on Saturday evening.
Frank Lampard's side gave away a penalty after Edouard Mendy fouled Dominic Calvert-Lewin inside the box, and Gylfi Sigurdsson converted from 12 yards.
Mount, very unfortunately, hit the woodwork on two separate occasions in the second-half, but overall, it was a difficult night for Chelsea.
The defeat at Goodison Park meant that the Blues were unable to close the gap to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, who eventually gained a point on Lampard 's side after respective 1-1 draws on Sunday.
Now, Mount has sent his team-mates a warning after a frustrating night on Merseyside.
"Everton are a tough team, they make it very hard. We know we didn’t start well enough, we didn’t start like we have been playing recently and then we got punished," the 21-year-old told Chelsea's official website.
"From 1-0 down it is a difficult game, so we have to look at how we started and correct that for the next game.
"These things happen sometimes, but we want to be pushing for number one and we can’t start like that. We know that.
"We have to look at where we went wrong and really try to correct it for the next game because the games come thick and fast and it’s another away game so we need to ready for that."
Chelsea are back in Premier League action on Tuesday evening, as they travel to Wolves - six days before a home match against West Ham United on Monday evening.
