Antonio Conte: Chelsea must be more clinical to get valuable festive rest

Antonio Conte has said Chelsea needs to be more clinical after their 1-0 loss to West Ham on Saturday.

The Blues suffered their fourth Premier League defeat to remain third in the table after Marko Arnautovic's sixth-minute goal at the London Stadium, which leaves them 14 points off leaders Manchester City.

It is the second time the reigning champions have fallen to a relegation-fighting side, also losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace who are currently at the foot of the table.

And now Conte, despite believing the Blues have already lost out on the title race, insists his men need to improve their execution in order for a return to form at Stamford Bridge.

"It's not right to lose confidence," he told reporters. "Don't forget, we shot 19 times [against West Ham] but we didn't score. For sure we need to improve our finishing and try to be more clinical.

"The game against Atletico Madrid was the same, we created many chances - we scored but it was an own-goal. Also against Swansea, we won, but it was only 1-0.

"Against Newcastle we won 3-1 but we created a lot of chances to score. We must learn to be more clinical and then to rest and recover energy, because it is not simple to play every three days."

Conte's men prepare to go head-to-head with Huddersfield at the John Smith's stadium on Tuesday night.

David Wagner's side ended a run of four consecutive defeats with a crucial 2-0 victory against Brighton on home soil on Saturday.

They also secured a comfortable 2-1 win over Manchester United in October and gave Man City a run for their money last month, losing 2-1 at home after a late Raheem Sterling goal.

Huddersfield's performance is enough to worry Conte, who is hoping his men can recover from the shocking loss at West Ham at the weekend - especially now the Blues are set to face Barcelona in the Champions League last-16 draw.

"This is for all the players - we are a team and we must improve as a team," he added.