Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso and goalkeeper Mike Penders disagree over Sunderland’s match-winning penalty.

The Blues suffered a painful 1-0 defeat to Sunderland on Sunday, losing to the team that began the day rooted to the foot of the Premier League table.

Enzo Le Fee scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after Levi Colwill was controversially adjudged to have fouled Brian Brobbey when tussling with the Dutch striker as he ran towards goal.

It came just minutes after Cole Palmer felt he should have had a penalty for a foul which officials instead believed was from contact initiated outside the box.

After the match, which left Chelsea fifth in the table, Penders gave his opinion on the spot-kick he had conceded.

“For me it wasn't a penalty,” he told Sky Sports. “[Colwill] barely touched [Brobbey]. I think it was the other way round. He grabbed him.”

But the Chelsea boss Alonso was not offering Colwill a similar out, and instead blamed the defeat on his players.

“Nothing to comment on the referee [performance],” Alonso told BBC’s Match of the Day.

“It is something that is our fault. We could have done better.”

He added: “The game was really tight, really competitive, not many chances. The goal came from that penalty.

“We were not creating enough chances in the final third against the low block. We were not controlling and sustaining the attack there.”

“Today was going to be tough, a really close game,” Alonso said. “This team give you so much space and so much of the ball we needed to be more precise and patient.”