Everton 1-0 Chelsea: Frank Lampard looking for response as Carlo Ancelotti hails his defence

Frank Lampard insisted his Chelsea team are still on a learning curve after their Premier League title pursuit was hit by a 1-0 defeat to Everton on Saturday.

Chelsea were unbeaten in nine league outings going into the Goodison Park clash and would have gone top of the table with victory, but they could find no way back from Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half penalty, after Edouard Mendy took out Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

After the match, Lampard said he would be looking for a response from his side when they go to Wolves on Tuesday but conceded losses such as this one can happen to a developing side.

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"I feel we could've got something out of the game but we didn't pepper their goal," he said. "We had the opportunities to get at least a point but we weren't at our best. Once it went to 1-0, we gave ourselves a problem and we didn't do enough to break them down.

"Edouard has been fantastic since he's been here, but I don't think it was just his mistake. The mentality of the whole team wasn't good to cut out the ball. When you give them a head start in this stadium, against this team, it's very difficult. It wasn't really us for the first time in a while.

"I keep reading how we've got the strongest squad in the league but I don't understand it. The teams who have won the league in recent years have squads that are littered with wingers who have scored a lot of goals but we're in a position where we are a work in progress.

"We will have nights like this. I don't like them but we will have to bounce back strong. Let's see what happens on Tuesday."

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Chelsea were without wingers Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic at Everton due to injuries and Lampard said the strain of the fixture list has taken its toll on his most explosive players.

"[Pulisic] was uncomfortable during the week so he couldn't play and we did miss our wingers," said Lampard.

"There are muscle injuries all over the Premier League. We want to see these players, but I think this comes back to the issue of five subs which will come up later in the week. It's about player welfare.

"Players who are explosive and at the top end of the pitch are getting injured all over the Premier League. Everyone can use their squads in these unprecedented times. Did we miss our wide players? Yes, we did because they're important players for us."

Ancelotti: Defence was really good

Everton had won just one of their previous seven Premier League games, with their fast start to the season undone by a mixture of injuries and poor performances in recent weeks, and boss Carlo Ancelotti was understandably delighted to pull off a victory against his former club.

Ancelotti - who said the 2,000 fans in Goodison "made a lot of difference" - was particularly pleased with his team's defensive display - led by an impressive performance from centre-back Michael Keane - which saw Everton register their first clean sheet since the opening day of the season at Tottenham.

"We needed this performance and these points," said Ancelotti. "After a difficult period, we're able to move on and we're showing more consistency. The performance was really good. You cannot beat Chelsea without a good performance.

"Defensively we were really good. We didn't give up many opportunities, just two outside of the box. I think we were really well organised with defenders and midfielders. The way the team fought was top-class.

"We have a really tough game coming up on Wednesday [at Leicester] so I hope I see the same attitude and spirit. We won today because of the spirit not because of the way we played. I want to see that spirit again against Leicester."

What's next?

Everton travel to face Leicester on Wednesday at 6pm while Chelsea are at Wolves a day earlier; kick-off at Molineux is at 6pm.

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