Lallana: Win over Chelsea was meant to be

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Midfielder reflects on excellent victory over the Blues.

Charlie Hanson

2022-10-31T05:00:00Z

Adam Lallana celebrates Leandro Trossard's opener against Chelsea.

Albion were relieved to bring an end to their winless run on Saturday, according to Adam Lallana.

The 34-year-old started in the 4-1 defeat of Chelsea which was Roberto De Zerbi’s first victory since arriving on the south coast.

“We’re relieved to be honest,” Lallana reflected. “It must have been tough for the boss coming from Italy and taking over a team that’s been doing so well, picking up points and wins and sitting fourth in the league.

“I am pleased for him that we got the three points because we have deserved more over the course of the last three or four weeks and not had the luck. I don’t think we’ve believed as much [in ourselves] as we could have done in the last few weeks and there has been a little bit of a lack of confidence which can happen in football, so it meant a lot to get three points.

“It was a bit of a strange match. We’ve all still got really strong relationships with Graham [Potter]. They’ve done such a great job since they’ve gone to Chelsea – they were unbeaten in nine games. It was always going to be tough for them going back to their old club - I’ve had to do it myself, it’s hard, it’s emotional and different.

“It was meant to be for us today. We went five without a win, but it felt like we wanted it a bit more and we had that bit of luck. They had chances in the first half so it could have been different. It was an entertaining game for the neutral I am sure, but we will enjoy this.”

While Albion started without key players in Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck, Adam was pleased with the way everyone put in a strong performance.

“It was interesting that there was no out-and-out No. 9 on the pitch from the start, both head coaches have got their ideas of how they want to play and when the team-sheets came in I thought that was fascinating and a bit of a talking point. We were unfortunate to miss Welbz, but every player stepped up and put in a good performance. We needed it.”