Chelsea boss Graham Potter accepts the blame after latest defeat

The Blues slipped into the bottom half of the Premier League table as John McGinn’s brilliant 30-yard strike helped Aston Villa to a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge and heaped pressure back onto Graham Potter.

The Villa captain struck 10 minutes after half-time to double his side’s lead in front of a frustrated home crowd who made their displeasure heard after Ollie Watkins had pounced on a mistake by Marc Cucurella in the first half to stun Potter’s side.

Chelsea had been their usual enterprising selves going forward up to that point, but their struggles in front of goal showed no sign of resolution in a game that showed yet again their lack of bite in the opposition box.

At the final whistle, boos rang around Stamford Bridge, as some supporters behind the dugout again called for Potter to go.

"The most important number is the one that goes against us. We have to do better,” said Potter.

"In terms of the game, you can see the players gave everything, they took on the responsibility, they tried, they had lots of entries into the box and shots and attacks.

"Ultimately we conceded a poor first goal which makes everything very emotional and rightly so. We're disappointed because we're 1-0 down but the players responded well they kept on responding throughout. The second goal is disappointing because we started the second half well.

"But if you look at the stats apart from the main one there is a lot of positives there. But at the moment into doesn't feel too positive.

"After a defeat there is always a disappointment. There is always a feeling we have not moved forward, that's fair to say. We have to analyse the performance and look at the things we've done well and what we can do better. Defensively we've left ourselves too open but again if you look at the stats of the game we had chances ourselves, we had one-v-ones, but the most important thing, putting the ball into the net, we were second-best.

"I don't like to blame anybody, I have to take responsibility. We are a team, we have to stay together, we are together. We win or lose together.

"We will recover and we will prepare for the next game. We need to respond, that's clear. But we look forward to it."

Chelsea now face a crucial home game against Liverpool on Tuesday, with the Champions League quarter-final later this month potentially a make-or-break tie for Potter.