Kalidou Koulibaly has described the current situation at Chelsea as a “difficult” one after they lost 2-1 to neighbours Fulham on Thursday night.
The Senegalese centre-back equalised after former Blues player Willian had given the Cottagers the lead in the first half.
Chelsea were, however, reduced to 10 men after new signing Joao Felix was given a straight red card on his debut and Carlos Vinicius restored Fulham’s lead to give them a fourth consecutive Premier League win which sees the newly-promoted team sit in six place, four points away from the top four.
Chelsea are six points behind Fulham in 10th and 10 points away from the top four and have also lost four of their last six league matches (W1 D1).
“We know it’s difficult for the supporters,” Koulibaly told the club website.
“We are going to do everything to change this situation, and I hope the supporters keep believing in this team.
“There is a lot of pressure on the manager and on the team, but everybody is behind the manager. We want to help him and make him proud, it’s difficult at the moment but we’re going to do everything. We are going to help each other, and as a team we are going to keep on working.
“We know we have a lot of injuries, players who are missing.
“It’s difficult at this moment but we have to keep on working. We cannot stay like this and wait for them to come back to show something else on the pitch. It’s a difficult situation but we can’t complain about that, we just have to work hard and keep on believing.”
Chelsea will face another tough challenge when they welcome London rivals Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
