Chelsea have time to pick up lost points, says Begovic

Bosnian international goalkeeper Begovic, who joined Chelsea from Stoke City on a four-year contract last month, got his first start on Sunday after first-choice Thibaut Courtois was suspended for his red card in the 2-2 draw against Swansea City.

(Reuters)

Begovic said Chelsea failed to match the intensity of City in the first half but responded well in the second half.

"We came to get a win or at least a point. Man City had a point to prove and they came on aggressively from the start," the 28-year-old told the club's website (www.chelseafc.com).

"We didn't match that intensity in the first half, but we responded and in the second half had some chances and were more in control of the game.

"If you don't score it's difficult though and unfortunately they sucker-punched us with the second goal which killed the game."

Chelsea have conceded five goals in their first two Premier League games and Begovic is keen to get back to winning ways, starting with their visit to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

"All we can do is get past this start, improve on the training ground, get our sharpness going and look to West Brom," Begovic added.

"It's still early so we have time to pick up the points we have lost but we need to get some results in the next couple of games to get our season going and then hopefully we can push on for the rest of the season."

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)