‘Stop thinking we are Chelsea from the last 20 years’ – Pochettino

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Mauricio Pochettino reiterated that it will take time to turn Chelsea’s fortunes around after they crushed Aston Villa to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup, emphatically easing the pressure on the Blues boss.

With his team 11th in the Premier League and having been woeful in a 4-2 defeat at home to Wolves at the weekend, the spotlight was on boss Pochettino ahead of a tricky-looking fourth-round replay.

But they were dominant from the start and remain in contention for a cup double after their 3-1 win at Villa Park, with the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool in store later this month.


In an impassioned speech at his post-match press conference, Pochettino said: “We need to stop thinking that we are Chelsea from the last 20 years – because we are not any more this type of Chelsea.

“We need to move on. People need to realise that is not anymore. Move on.

“I don’t care whether people are happy or not with my speech. I care for the club and I care for my players. We want the best for the players and for the club. We are going to fight. I don’t care what people say.

“We cannot build a team capable of challenging for big things in just a few months, because you have to fix too many things.

“We are building a project and at the start of the project it is going to be different.”

The Blues scored twice in the opening 21 minutes, with goals from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson putting them in control.

And their victory was sealed by Enzo Fernandez’ brilliant free-kick nine minutes into the second half.

Moussa Diaby scored a stoppage-time consolation for Villa.

Chelsea will face Leeds at home for a place in the quarter finals.