Our opening Premier League match of the season did not work out as planned, both in terms of the result and the bad injury for Andre Ayew.

When the going was tough last season and we had many injuries, the squad showed their character and so we are relishing our first League match in the London Stadium, against Bournemouth on Sunday.

There is no doubt that we will have to play better than we did at Chelsea this week.

We cannot allow any team, especially those who have more quality on the pitch than we have, to be more aggressive and better on the second ball.

We have to be better at that part of the game than we were on Monday. They can outplay us, they can create some magic with Eden Hazard and Willian but they can’t out-run us and they can’t be hungrier than us.

I know the players gave a lot against Chelsea but, unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.

We have to keep things in perspective, though. Yes, we were beaten by a better side in Chelsea in our first game and, yes, we can do much better.

Even so, we did something for which, just a few seasons ago, we would have been praised. We held them until the dying seconds and although you are never happy when you lose, we gave them a hard game.

I agree that after what we achieved last year, expectations from the supporters have been raised — mine also.

I am not trying to hide anything. We are big-time disappointed we came away from Stamford Bridge with nothing, but feeling that way is good.

Now we have to bounce back, knowing that we played one of the top teams and even though we were not at our best still had a real chance.

We need to use that as a motivation and realise how good we can be this season when we are on top of things.

As a positive, I must say I thought Andy Carroll was terrific. There has been speculation that other clubs are interested in him and I am not surprised.

It was never an option, though, and Andy will be important to us this season.

I told the players after the game that while I don’t want to single any of them out and while they all did their best, if everyone gave what Andy gave and in the way he gave it, we would have been much better and would have had many more chances.

I’M ALREADY FED UP WITH TALKING ABOUT CONTROVERSIES

We have been told referees are clamping down on bad behaviour towards match officials this season and I was ticked off by Anthony Taylor on Monday for gesticulating in the technical area when I was unhappy at something.

Okay, we will try to keep calm but it is not easy in the heat of a game.

The authorities also want to stop players surrounding the referee, although I saw Chelsea’s players do that. Perhaps, if we had done the same, Taylor might have booked Diego Costa for that foul on Adrian.

I have to say, though, that I was not comfortable talking about the Costa incident. It was the first game of the season and already we were talking about controversy.

Already I am fed up talking about subjects like that, although it did have a big impact on the game and I know it isn’t going to change.

The one thing I try to be after games is honest. I said that Chelsea were better than us and deserved to win. Everyone saw that and I want to make my point honestly.

Congratulations, anyway, to Antonio Conte for his first win as manager of Chelsea.

He is very active in his technical area — even more lively than me at times. The way he and the whole stadium reacted when they scored the winner, it was like a Champions League Final!

That is indicative of just how important the Premier League is these days. A few years ago it would have been a case of ‘job done’ and a routine game, but on Monday it was like the Euros