The Citizen (Gauteng)

Poch: Chelsea’s bad days are ‘so bad’

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London – Mauricio Pochettino (right) admitted troubled Chelsea’s worst moments this season have been “so bad” after the Blues suffered their heaviest defeat in over five years.

Pochettino’s side slumped to an embarrassi­ng 5-0 loss at Arsenal on Tuesday to heap renewed pressure on the beleaguere­d Chelsea boss.

It was Chelsea’s worst-ever result against London rivals Arsenal and marked the fifth time this season they conceded four or more goals in a Premier League game.

In his first season in charge, Pochettino has failed to build a cohesive unit despite Chelsea spending over £1 billion on new signings in the last two years.

Chelsea’s hammering in north London came three days after they were arguably the better team but lost 1-0 to Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinal.

“We are capable of having amazing performanc­es, and three days after, in extremes,” said Pochettino, whose team are languishin­g in ninth place in the Premier League.

“Our standard is not sustained.

The bad days, when we have bad days, we are so bad. Then when we are good, we are capable of everything.”

Heavy defeats have become a discomfort­ing theme this season for Pochettino, who will face a struggle to avoid the sack if results don’t improve.

Chelsea have lost 4-1 at Newcastle and Liverpool and 4-2 at home to Wolves, with the Arsenal humiliatio­n exposing the flaws in Pochettino’s defence after he made several changes from the FA Cup semifinal line-up.

“It was a great opportunit­y for different players to step up and say, ‘we are here’, it doesn’t only depend on one player,” he said.

“But we didn’t compete. As a team we are showing this inconsiste­ncy. From the beginning of the season we have suffered too many situations that are not helping.”

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