Conor Gallagher responds to young Chelsea fan who demanded players 'fight' for the shirt during Arsenal mauling

The Blues midfielder had to face tough questions after a 5-0 mauling to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening. The derby defeat marked another low in Mauricio Pochettino's tenure which left Chelsea languishing in ninth place in the Premier League table, a staggering 19 points adrift of the top four. Throughout the season, the club's supporters have voiced their increasing frustration with the team's performances and during the second half against the Gunners, a young fan held up a banner which read: "I don't want your shirt I want you to fight for ours."

When Gallagher was asked to respond to the poster, he said: "We definitely are putting the effort in. I know it's been said many times; it's a very young squad with not much experience as a team in the Premier League. As you’ve seen this season, we’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs as well. We’re still improving and working together as a team to get to that next level.

"Today it was one of those days where we were just nowhere near it. We need to kind of dust ourselves off but also look at the performance and where we can improve, and all the mistakes we made, where we can put it right and just get ready for the next one.”

The defeat against Arsenal marked Chelsea's second consecutive loss, following their 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals. Additionally, it dealt a significant blow to their aspirations of securing European qualification for the next season, with the team now trailing three points behind sixth-placed Newcastle United - who have managed to revive their fortunes with three victories in their last four league matches.

The 5-0 thrashing is Arsenal's biggest victory over Chelsea across all competitions. Whereas, this was the heaviest defeat that the Blues have suffered from a fellow London rival since their 6-0 loss to QPR in 1986.

Looking ahead, Chelsea face a daunting task of regrouping swiftly as they prepare for challenging games against Aston Villa on Saturday and London rivals Tottenham next week in their next two fixtures.