Dale Stephens reckons Albion showed Chelsea too much respect.

The midfielder's return to the starting line-up from five weeks out caused by a red card at Cardiff and the international break was ruined by the 2-1 defeat at the Amex.

Stephens told The Argus: "It feels a long time since I last played, with the international break and not starting last week (Burnley).

"I'm happy to be back in the team and I'm looking forward to next week already.

"They are a top team. We knew we'd probably have to surrender a little bit of possession.

"We probably showed them a little bit too much respect in the first half.

"We conceded two poor goals from our point of view and it's an uphill climb from there.

"Second half I thought we did ourselves a bit of justice. I thought we played a lot better, got after them more, and maybe deserved something out of the game.

"We know we were up against a top team and it's a disappointing result in the end."

Albion were 2-0 down in 33 minutes to goals by Pedro and Eden Hazard before Solly March replied midway through the second half.

Stephens said: "When you give a top team, any team in this league, a two-goal head start, we found ourselves in a position where it's going to be a difficult task.

"We played much better second half but that's not much to take out of the game really."