The Blues suffered a consecutive 1-0 home defeat as Ollie Watkins’s second-half strike ensured the points travelled back to the Midlands with Unai Emery’s side.

Gallagher, who captained the Blues in the absence of Reece James, fronted up after the game to dissect the defeat and the midfielder cut a frustrated figure following the Premier League fixture.

‘It’s really disappointing to lose the game,’ Gallagher stated post-match.

‘We came into this one trying to win the game and given that we are struggling for points, we were desperate to win today.

‘Obviously the red card doesn’t help but we can’t make any excuses. We’re just really disappointed and we’re determined to put it right for the next game.’

Chelsea were reduced to 10 men when Malo Gusto was shown a straight red for serious foul play, despite the referee initially only awarding a yellow card to the Frenchman before consulting VAR.

Gallagher gave his thoughts on that incident and expressed the need to ‘stay positive’ with another big game just around the corner.

‘I didn’t have a great view of the red card, if I’m being totally honest,’ added Conor. ‘It looked like he’d got the ball but the ref has reviewed it via VAR and decided it should be a red card, so we had to accept that and adapt.

‘We did that but then we conceded a goal which made it very difficult to come back from and we are just really disappointed with how the result has played out.

‘We have to stay positive, we will continue to work hard in training to try and improve our fortunes. I know the gaffer will be working us hard in training to get us to improve.

‘That’s something we know we need to do. We will stay positive and hopefully we can put it right with victory in the next game.’