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Cech accuses team-mates of slacking

Chelsea conceded late against Everton © Getty Images

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Petr Cech has admitted that Chelsea's season was always going to come off the rails as the Blues have failed to perform convincingly on a consistent basis.

Carlo Ancelotti's team looked to be running away with the league in the early weeks after they won five of their first six matches - but they have stuttered of late and now lie in third place, two points off leaders Arsenal.

Ahead of a crucial run of fixtures for the club - they face Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United before January - 'keeper Cech has accused his team-mates of failing to put in 100% effort.

"We have periods of play where we are not there … and it has been like that more or less all season," he said. "Even when we won 6-0 at Wigan, the first half was poor."

Chelsea's latest setback came in the 1-1 draw against Everton, where they appeared on course for victory before conceding a late equaliser to Jermaine Beckford. The Stamford Bridge side were clinging on for a point at the end in the face of an onslaught from the visitors - and Cech admits that Chelsea lost their composure when put under pressure.

"In the second half [against Everton] we started in control with everything going well but suddenly they had a few counter-attacks, a few long balls and crosses and everything changed. Out of nothing, we stopped playing. When you are going through a difficult period you have it on your mind that you should defend better, but sometimes that's not the way it should be.

"All the statistics say Everton are dangerous with headers and scoring from crosses, so you can expect that. The problem is we didn't do enough to stop the crosses. It seemed that every time we got the ball in the second half we made the wrong choice."

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