Chelsea Star Laments Lack Of Concentration After West Brom Setback

Chelsea's January signing Nemanja Matic believes the Blues lost their concentration in the second half of the game against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday, allowing the Baggies to get a draw and leave Jose Mourinho's side without two crucial points in the race for the Premier League tittle.

Despite Branislav Ivanovic scoring the first goal of the game, Baggies substitute Victor Anichebe netted an 87th-minute equaliser and Mourinho's side will be replaced at the top of the Premier League this Wednesday if either Arsenal or Manchester City secure a victory.

Asked about the reasons for the disappointing draw, Matic said: "'We lost our concentration and West Brom were playing long balls, we didn't know how to deal with it and they caused us a lot of problems."

"In the first half and for 10-15 minutes in the second half we played very well but I don't know what happened in the last 30 minutes. They scored a goal in the last few minutes but football is like that sometimes, you can win in the last minutes but you can also lose points. We had some chances to make it 2-0 which we didn't take and it's difficult to speak about it.

"It's not easy when you concede a goal with four minutes left, after that it was hard for us to do anything," the Serbian midifielder said in an interview with Chelsea official website.

"We are not happy because we drew 1-1, we came here to win but that's football, that's life. Now we have to concentrate on the next training session and next game," he added.

Nevertheless, the midfielder believes that Chelsea are still in the race for the Premier League tittle and although they are not the favourites insists they can really win the League.

"I said after the Man City game that we'll fight until the end of the season. We need to take it game by game and play as well as we can in order to win matches. At the end of the season we'll see if we can be champions.

We always believe, we just try to improve and give our best. We have a young team, we are not favourites but if we have a chance to be champions we want to take it."

Furthermore, Matic claims that he is enjoying his time at Chelsea having quickly established himself as a pivotal figure in midfield at Stamford Bridge.

"I'm very happy and I think I can improve a lot here. Every game is difficult and in every game you have to be fully concentrated. It's a good opportunity for me to show my quality."