Chelsea legend Ashley Cole slammed Andreas Christensen for ‘ball-watching’ in the build-up to Michail Antonio’s goal in the Blues’ defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
Frank Lampard’s side had the opportunity to move into third place for the first time since November following Leicester City’s 2-1 defeat to Everton but the Blues conceded an injury time winner to the Hammers following a counter-attack from Andriy Yarmolenko.
Willian had given Chelsea the lead but Tomas Soucek equalised just before half-time to level the game.
Chelsea were on top after the restart but it was West Ham that found the next goal as Antonio was on hand to tap-in from close range.
Willian scored his second of the game to bring Chelsea back into play before Yarmolenko’s winner but Cole believes the damage was already done with Antonio’s goal.
The former England defender was heavily critical of Christensen’s defending in the run-up to the goal and Cole says the Dane allowed himself to ball watch as Antonio snuck in behind to score.
‘He’s got to recover and block that space,’ Cole told Sky Sports.
‘He recovers too late and he doesn’t see where Antonio is. Now he’s ball-watching. It’s a great ball and now it’s a tap-in.
‘Whenever you recover to your goal you’ve got to have an open body shape, to be able to see the ball and to see the striker maybe out the corner of my eye but he did nothing. He just looked at the ball.
‘He left so much space between the goalkeeper and the centre-half. It’s a great ball and for Antonio it’s a tap-in. There’s nothing Azpilicueta can do because he’s got a man on him as well, he can’t track that run.
‘Christensen has to start realising the danger and the spaces before he just switches off for a second.’
MORE: Gary Neville blasts Marcos Alonso for ‘costing Chelsea the game’ in West Ham defeat
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