West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce admits his side were second best against Chelsea on Boxing Day.
The Hammers were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and suggests the east Londoners were not up to the class of the Premier League leaders despite a strong finish to the match.
"Up to 2-0, we didn't really do anything to affect them enough because of the quality they have got and the fact we didn't play as well as we know we can," he told Sky Sports.
"It was a bit of both, a top-quality team playing against us not on top of our game. I said if we were going to get anything against Chelsea, you have to play your best and even then that might not be good enough.
"The best chances for us came after we went 2-0 down which was really our fault and not due to great football from Chelsea."
He added: "I am not saying we deserved anything, Chelsea were the better team, but the last 20 minutes when we carved out those chances, you want one to go in and see if they got nervous or not."
John Terry and Diego Costa scored either side of the break for the Blues to inflict a first defeat in six matches on the fifth-placed Hammers.
