Conor Gallagher says Chelsea ‘putting the effort in' despite being ‘nowhere near it’ against Arsenal

Club captain Conor Gallagher has said Chelsea's players are "putting the effort in" after a heavy loss to Arsenal in the Premier League.

The Blues suffered a 5-0 mauling in a London derby against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening.

One young fan in the away end held up a placard reading: "I don't want your shirt! I want you to want to fight for ours."

Although results have been less than ideal, Gallagher exclusively told TNT Sports the squad are leaving everything out on the pitch.

"We definitely are putting the effort in," he said when asked about the banner in his post-match interview. "I know how much it means to all the boys.

"I know it's been said many times; it's a very young squad with not much experience as a team in the Premier League.

"As you’ve seen this season, we’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs as well. We’re still improving and working together as a team to get to that next level.

"Today it was one of those days where we were just nowhere near it. We need to kind of dust ourselves off but also look at that the performance and where we can improve, and all the mistakes we made, where we can put it right and just get ready for the next one.”

The result was a second successive defeat for Mauricio Pochettino's side, following on from their 1-0 loss to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday.

It also puts a dent in their hopes of qualifying for a European competition next season, as they remain in ninth place in the table, three points behind Manchester United, who sit in seventh.

Former Chelsea midfielder and TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole, responding to Gallagher, said: "It’s a difficult question for him to answer, because he would see the work that is going in on the training pitch.

"Maybe they’ve got it right. Maybe they’ve come up against an Arsenal team tonight that are just better than them. It’s a difficult thing.

"Him as a player, you can never level those questions, and I don’t think any Chelsea fan would level them at him personally...but I think there’ll be other players in the squad.

"When I think about ‘are they working hard enough’, I think about things like body language.

"What can you control as a footballer? You’re going through a tough time. You know the fans are upset. The fans pay their money. They can have an opinion. That is absolutely their right.

"So what can you control? Your body language. If you go a goal down, puff your chest out. 2-0 down, still make that run to shut someone down. Still encourage your team-mates. Still fly into tackles.”

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