Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri was positive in defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

Chelsea had succeeded in frustrating their hosts in a hard-fought first half on Sunday afternoon, but were undone early in the second period as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah struck in quick succession.

Sarri said, "I am happy with our performance, because we stayed in the match very well. Probably a few months ago we would not have been able to stay in this kind of match, so we are improving. It is difficult in England to close the gap because the level here is very high. To close the gap on Liverpool and Man City especially will be very difficult but now we are really very close to the other teams."

He added: "If we were able to pass the first 10 minutes [of the second half] with the same result, in the last 20 or 25 minutes we could find a lot of spaces, because Liverpool needed to win, and so the target was to arrive in the last 20 to 25 minutes 0-0."