There are still 22 games left of the
campaign, but Conte insists his side are not good enough to close the gap.
The Italian said: "This is the fourth defeat in 16 games. When you have these stats it's impossible to think you are in the title race.
"If you want to stay in the race for the title in the first part of the season you can only lose once or twice." Chelsea were carved open far too easily with West Ham's first attack in the sixth minute,
when Marko Arnautovic played a quick one- two with Manuel Lanzini.
The Austrian nipped in behind Andreas Christensen and, as Cesar Azpilicueta stood off, curled his shot around the defender and
goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea had plenty of time to respond, yet it was a strangely subdued display from a side
with six wins from their previous seven outings.
When their clearest chance arrived, six minutes from time, Alvaro Morata snatched at his shot and clipped the sidenetting.
"Today it was very difficult, our start was bad and it was difficult to come back," added Conte.
"We created chances but didn't take them and now we are talking about a defeat.
"Many of the players were tired. It's normal. We started our pre-season with the same players, a lot of players are playing almost
always.
"Today our ideas were not so clear. We made a lot of mistakes from the final pass. We can do better."