LONDON • Chelsea are determined to recover from last weekend's 1-0 Premier League defeat at Everton, which ended their 17-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and today's trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers is exactly the antidote they need.

Speaking at his virtual pre-match press conference yesterday, manager Frank Lampard said: "The Premier League is unforgiving. We saw that with different results over the weekend and we see it pretty much every weekend and match day.

"We weren't at our top level on Saturday and we got beaten. That's it. We dropped our level for a game. That's absolutely on us to pick it up again straight away."

The packed Christmas schedule - there is a run of four games before the end of the month - is what usually separates the pretenders from the contenders and Chelsea, who are three points behind leaders Tottenham and Liverpool (both 25), aim to stay within touching distance of the teams at the top.

On the importance of their next few matches, Lampard said: "I think I felt it is a long race to win the Premier League. I did it as a player and I understand there are lots of elements to it.

"One of those is losing a game and trying to bounce back very quickly, which is what we need to do. We need to sustain performances and results over a period of time. Particularly in a busy period of time like Christmas. So it is on us to do that."

Separately, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was unsure whether Sergio Aguero would be included when they host West Bromwich Albion at the Etihad today, even though the Argentina striker was back in training.

The club's record scorer, who came off the bench to score against Marseille in the Champions League last week, was absent for Saturday's goalless league draw at Manchester United.

Revealing Aguero had suffered from a bout of gastroenteritis, Guardiola, who also confirmed Eric Garcia and Oleksandr Zinchenko were both out, added: "Today, Sergio was training. The last two or three days before that, he didn't."

REUTERS

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