Preston head coach Ryan Lowe has admitted the Blues had more quality than his Preston side following their 4-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Chelsea won 4-0 thanks to second-half goals from Armando Broja, Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling and Enzo Fernández.

Lowe said: “The scoreline reflects the scoreline. We’re disappointed with three of the goals. We need to stop the cross and then there were a few errors that led to quality players punishing us.

“We were fantastic for 58 minutes. I’m proud of the boys and they did everything we asked them to do. Sometimes you’re undone by quality players and that’s what happened today.

“These lads have played 27 games now. Chelsea have got good quality players and probably are a bit more robust than some.

“Three goals in 11 minutes was the damage. But the boys had a fantastic day out and we need to take that 58 minutes into 90+5 minutes against Bristol City and we’ll be fine.

“There’s a few things we could stop but there’s good movements from quality players so there’s no disgrace coming here and getting beaten by a good side like Chelsea.

“We’ve got to put a performance in like that for 95 minutes but I’ve seen loads from the lads to show what we can do.”