Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has expressed confidence in his side’s ability to turn their early season setbacks around following another disappointing result last weekend.
The Blues suffered their third defeat of the 2023/24 Premier League season in last weekend’s disheartening 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
It was also their second consecutive defeat at Stamford Bridge this season after falling at the hands of Nottingham Forest earlier this month by an identical scoreline.
Like most of their other games this season, Chelsea started the Villa clash strongly but failed to convert any of their chances in the opening 45 minutes.
Things went from bad to terrible in the second half when Malo Gusto was shown a straight red for a controversial tackle, forcing a side struggling to score to fight for maximum points with ten men.
Villa pounced through Ollie Watkins to earn a deserved victory, much to the frustration of the Chelsea fans, who have seen their side win just one of their opening six games.
Things have not gone Chelsea’s way, leading some people to believe Pochettino’s job could come under the microscope soon with an even tougher run of fixtures on the horizon.
However, the Argentine tactician remains optimistic about the quality of the Chelsea roster and insists they have what it takes to breathe life into their dwindling campaign.
“It’s not worse than I thought,” Pochettino told reporters (via football.london) when asked about Chelsea’s start to the season.
“I think we always knew new project is always difficult. This period is a worse scenario than we can think to anticipate the situation.
“It looks like all is against us because the performance of the team deserves more points. All teams go through different periods, and I think we have the capacity to turn this.”
Chelsea’s next fixture sees them take on Roberto De Zerbi’s high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion side in Wednesday’s League Cup third-round encounter.
Both sides faced off in the United States pre-season tour, with Chelsea coming out on top, but a competitive fixture is a different ball game entirely.
Pochettino has expressed his desire to secure a domestic trophy this season, but facing a formidable Brighton side, Chelsea must recover from their recent defeat to Villa.
