The striker was part of the Chelsea team which were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.

A frantic first half saw the Blues fall behind early, but initially fight back well to take the lead ourselves through a Cole Palmer penalty and Enzo Fernandez’s brilliant strike, only for the visitors to equalise before the break.

After being unable to find a winning goal in the second half, Delap admitted it was a frustrating evening for the Blues.

‘It’s disappointing obviously, we came into the game and we didn’t get the three points as planned,’ he said.

‘We’re disappointed with the result because we conceded two sloppy goals. It’s not good enough, but we can only look at it and work on it now.

‘But it happens and we’ve just got to look forward to the next game.’

It was the inability to shut out the opposition and kill off the game by taking control when we had our brief first-half lead that particularly disappointed Delap.

‘We put ourselves back in a good position and we have to see that moment through and not concede those goals.

‘No-one’s doing it on purpose and we’re obviously trying to keep that control, but sometimes unfortunately we’re unable to.

‘We’ve just got to keep that control when we’re up and in a good position, try to see out the game and keep the lead.’

That is a plan Chelsea will be hoping to put into action when we begin 2026 with back-to-back away games, travelling to Delap’s former club Manchester City before taking on neighbours Fulham.

‘We’ve just got to keep going,’ concluded the 22-year-old. ‘I think the second half was really positive but we’ve just got to find a way to score and to see the game through to get the three points.’