Heavy Defeat to Arsenal Was a Wake-up Call for Us - Nemanja Matic

Nemanja Matic believes Chelsea’s heavy defeat to Arsenal acted as a ‘wake-up call’ to put Antonio Conte’s side back on track to challenge for the Premier League title. Chelsea were convincingly beaten 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, forcing Conte to overhaul his system to a 3-4-3 formation.

Conte’s side have followed up their loss against the Gunners with three consecutive victories in the Premier League, while Chelsea are yet to concede following their change in system.

‘You know sometimes you need to lose the game to wake up,’ said Matic.

‘The Arsenal game was a wake-up call for us. We knew that we had to do better, to want more, and we did that.

‘It’s easy to say we needed to work harder but after Arsenal we knew we had to show that we had quality, and we have done that in the last three games. We have shown quality, we don’t concede, and we score goals.