The midfielder wore the captain’s armband as Chelsea’s unbeaten home start ended on Saturday, with an own goal from goalkeeper Mike Penders and a late finish by Mathys Tel settling the London derby. Cole Palmer was also sent off after receiving two yellow cards.
Chelsea had chances before the break, with Cole Palmer, Jordan Henderson, Morgan Rogers and Pedro Neto all testing Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky. But the hosts could not turn those opportunities into a goal, and the match remained goalless until a corner led to Penders putting the ball into his own net in the 77th minute.
Tel finished a counter-attack in the 87th minute, after Palmer had been dismissed, to complete Tottenham’s win.
Caicedo accepted that Chelsea had to take responsibility for the lapse that changed the match.
“We need to be focused during the whole game because if you switch off for one second, you get punished.
“We need to learn from this because we need to stop this from happening and we need to maintain the clean sheet for the whole game.
“It was a tough one, but we need to keep going because there are more games in front of us and we want to do better.”
The Ecuador international said the squad understood that improvements were needed and remained confident they could recover their position in the table.
“Everybody knows what we need to improve. We are going to think about this game because we need to be up there in the table. We need to learn from this and for sure we are going to be up there [at the end of the season].”
Saturday was Caicedo’s third consecutive start after he recovered from an early-season injury. Chelsea’s official match report credited him with four interceptions, more than any other player, and two tackles as he tried to help the team regain control in midfield.
“I tried to do my best and help the team and for sure I’m feeling better game by game,” he said.
“This one was a tough game but I want to keep doing well and improving what I need to improve because I want to be someone that helps the team in every moment.”
Chelsea must now respond quickly, with a Carabao Cup meeting with Liverpool scheduled for Wednesday. For Caicedo, the message after a damaging home defeat was simple: concentration cannot drop, even briefly.
The defeat also ended a run in which Chelsea had avoided losing at home, making Caicedo’s call for sustained concentration especially pointed.