His compatriot Marcos Alonso appeared to have put the Blues on our way against Bournemouth with a powerful first-half finish but as we had done midweek against Bayern Munich, we conceded a quickfire double in the second half to trail. This time though, instead of letting in a third goal, we had enough of a response to at least end the game with a draw.Pedro, typically busy throughout the game having been handed a start, struck a shot with time running out that Bournemouth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale saved but Alonso was there to head home to make it 2-2.‘In the first half we were playing very well and we created chances and the game was under control,’ began Pedro when he looked back on the game, ‘but in the second half with two chances for Bournemouth they scored two goals. Finally we scored with Marcos again but one point for us is a big opportunity lost to recover points on Leicester and for this reason it was a pity for us.’The Foxes had lost at Norwich the night before so the one point Chelsea have made up on the third-place side this weekend leaves them five points ahead of us.

‘It is always difficult when you concede goals from set-pieces, and also to concede when you start the second half again,’ added Pedro, referring to the corner which was headed in for Bournemouth’s equaliser and the similar timing of their goals with the first two of the three scored by Bayern four days earlier.‘This is frustrating because you are playing very well, Marcos and Reece with good energy and good spirit. Moving the ball well, we created chances but finally you have one point here and it is a difficult result for us because we had a good opportunity.’Looking ahead to two Merseyside encounters in the coming week, both at home with the first in the FA Cup when he host Liverpool and the second in the Premier League against Everton, Pedro had this to say:‘We need to improve and we need to recover some of our compactness because sometimes it is difficult to play with space, but we continue in this way to do our best in the next game.’Read Frank Lampard's view on the game at Bournemouth