Chelsea Manager Graham Potter says they are going through a bad moment after the latest defeat but called on everyone to stick together as he looks ahead to the challenges to come.

Potter had seen his side go down 4-0 at Manchester City in the Emirates FA Cup yesterday. Conceding twice in the first half-hour made a tough third-round tie much more difficult and it was 3-0 by the break, with Riyad Mahrez scoring his second goal of the game, a second penalty for City, close to the end to complete the scoring.

Potter acknowledged that the way the game went early on left it hard for his players to give a good account of themselves against the Premier League champions.

“We were second best to a very, very good side,” Potter said. “Obviously, we’re not in a great moment ourselves and even though it was a cagey first 20 minutes, we couldn’t attack the back line well enough. Man City do really well in terms of stopping you doing that and at the same time we struggled.

“It was a fantastic first goal in terms of the free-kick strike, then a strange penalty, and then you are caught in a position where it is 2-0 and you have to chase the ball against Manchester City. You’re caught between trying to commit more men and not get opened up.

“So the first half was painful and it was tough for us all. Second half, we had to respond and there were some positives there in terms of the young players, they gave everything and showed their quality, but in the end we’re disappointed because we’ve gone out the competition.”

Potter says that the results in the recent period are not positive, even if some have been against the strongest teams.

“You can make excuses and look for reasons or you can say it isn’t good enough — and both of those answers are correct. So we have to keep improving, stick together because clearly we’re suffering as a football club and it’s not nice at all. But that’s where we are at the moment.

“We can’t do anything apart from do our jobs better and work harder and you understand the supporters’ frustration, that’s understandable and we respect that.’

Potter rejected suggestions that in addition to being hampered by a long injury list, there is a problem with the application of some players he is able to field.

“Man City is probably the worst opponent you can play when things aren’t going very well because they can make you look like you’re not running or you’re not trying because their positional structure is brilliant,” he said. “They use the full width of the pitch and they keep the ball and that makes it difficult to put any pressure on them.

“I’m working with the players and I don’t get any sense of any people with poor attitudes. Everyone wants to try and do better and there is support in the dressing room.”

Chelsea sit 10th in the Premier League table.

Team stats

Goals scored

Man City 45

Arsenal 40

Tottenham 37

Goals conceded

Newcastle 11

Arsenal 14

Man City 16

Big chances

Man City 61

Liverpool 58

Brentford 51

Ball possession

Man City 66.2%

Liverpool 61.9%

Chelsea 58.6%

Accurate passes per game

Man City 606

Liverpool 500

Chelsea 467

Player stats

Goals

Erling Haaland (Man City ) 21

Harry Kane (Tottenham) 15

Ivan Toney (Brentford) 12

Assists

Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) 9

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) 6

Christian Eriksen (Man Utd) 6

Scoring frequency (in minutes)

Erling Haaland 62

Harry Kane 107

Rodrigo (Leeds) 113

Accurate passes per game

Rodri (Man City) 84.4 (91%)

Manuel Akanji (Man City) 72.1 (95%)

Nathan Aké (Man City) 72.0 (92%)

Tackles per game

João Palhinha (Fulham) 4.7

Tyler Adams (Leeds) 4.0

Pascal Struijk (Leeds) 3.3

*Statistics provided by SofaScore.