Antonio Conte 'accepts' Crystal Palace defeat

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has admitted that he 'accepts' the result after his side were dealt a shock home defeat to Crystal Palace this afternoon.

With Tottenham Hotspur collecting all three points from their trip to Burnley, the Blues' lead at the top of the table has been trimmed to seven points with nine games of the season still to play.

"This is football. We must accept this result," Conte told BBC Sport afterwards. "We scored our goal after five minutes and then we conceded two in a few minutes. When you concede goals in that way you must understand the situation and improve on these mistakes.

"In every game in England, anything can happen. The league is so strong. We faced a team today with strong players. I think they showed they were a good team.

"Now we have to think about the next game. If we had won we would have been happy but now it's important to focus on Manchester City."

Chelsea welcome fourth-placed City to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.