LONDON -- Antonio Conte has said Chelsea are overachieving this season and insisted that a top-four finish in the Premier League would be a "great success" after Wednesday's shock 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth.
Three goals in the space of 16 wild second-half minutes gave the visitors a famous win at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea, with new signings Olivier Giroud and Emerson Palmieri watching from the bench and Eden Hazard operating as a false nine, produced a jaded and toothless performance.
Chelsea's defence lost Andreas Christensen to a hamstring injury in the first half and crumbled following Callum Wilson's 51st-minute opener, with Junior Stanislas doubling their lead and Blues academy graduate Nathan Ake making sure of the victory on his return to Stamford Bridge.
Conte, who let it be known that his preparations had been disrupted by Michy Batshuayi's deadline day loan move to Borussia Dortmund prior to kickoff, did not offer any "excuses" or "alibis" for the performance afterwards, but he did add that Chelsea must be realistic about their ambitions this season.
"Tough night, but if you remember very well, I predicted this tough night yesterday during the press conference," he said. "If you remember, I said it would be very, very tough for a lot of reasons. It happened, but now we have to move on and see the next game.
"Now it would be very simple to find a lot of excuses, a lot of alibis. This is not the right way, also because I don't want to. For sure we made a lot of mistakes together. When we win, we win together. When we lose, we lose together.
"I think the players tried to do their best, honestly. The commitment of the players was great. But, despite this, we lost. It was a bad defeat. But football is not simple. You have to prepare, to study, and then to try and prepare for every situation, every game, every season.
"Now the most important thing is to understand we have to fight. This season will be very tough. We must be ready to struggle this season for everything.
"We are doing everything, we are doing 120 percent. I'm exploiting this squad at the maximum level. If someone doesn't agree about this, I'm here. I have to accept every situation. I'm very relaxed about [the pressure]. I know that I'm doing a great job, a great work, me and the staff and the players."
Asked if he thinks Chelsea are overachieving this season, Conte replied: "Yes, I think we are doing more [than expected]."
Conte's misery was compounded by the loss of Christensen, whose hamstring injury will be assessed by Chelsea medical staff in the coming days. David Luiz's return date from an ankle problem is not yet clear, though Willian should be fit for Monday's clash with Watford.
The defeat sees Chelsea slip to fourth in the Premier League, 18 points adrift of leaders Manchester City and just two clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.
"Yes, we must be worried [about top four]," Conte added. "It won't be easy. But this is normal. It won't be easy this season, and we have to fight. I think the players are starting to understand that this season, we have to struggle for a position in the Champions League.
"But I think the players, until now, are great. They are [at the] very, very top for their commitment and their behaviours. If they hadn't done that, our place in the table would be worse.
"We have to understand that, if we want to speak about football and if we think to understand football we know very well this will be very difficult for us. If we want only to dream and not see the reality -- in this case, I can tell you now we can fight to win the title this season!
"It will be very important to look at the reality and to know that, if we are able to reach a place in the Champions League [via a top-four finish], it will be a great success for us. Otherwise we have a normal season."
Asked if he thought the Chelsea hierarchy were realists or dreamers, Conte said: "I don't know. My task is to try to be more realistic and try to transfer this to the players, because the players... if they know and understand the danger... they are fantastic in their commitment. They understand very well what our situation is in this season."