Mauricio Pochettino called on Chelsea fans to have faith in his players after Monday’s 3-2 win over Newcastle propelled the Blues back into European football next season. Pochettino faced open defiance from his own supporters during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Brentford. The former Spurs boss has endured a difficult first season at Stamford Bridge, which included a Carabao Cup final defeat to a severely depleted Liverpool last month. Chelsea remain 11th in the Premier League table, but just four points behind seventh-placed West Ham United, which should at least secure a spot in the Europa League.
“We need to be united,” said Pochettino, whose side face Leicester City in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-finals.
“Until the end we try to give the best to our fans. Today we scored from the start and that helped us a little bit, the fans are good and support us. They need to trust us.”
Newcastle’s 12th defeat of the season leaves the Magpies just one point above 10th-placed Chelsea.
Pressure is also mounting on Eddie Howe as Saudi-backed Newcastle United fail to build on last season’s fourth-place finish and fail to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
“Those three goals all had similar characteristics. We didn’t defend those situations well enough, and if you do, you’re going to lose the game,” Howe said.
“I know we can reach the heights we were before, but we don’t do it often enough.”
There are some promising signs for Pochettino as some of his much-criticized expensive young recruits show their potential.
Nicolas Jackson, who has already scored 12 goals in his debut season, cleverly collected Palmer’s shot in less than six minutes.
The story of Chelsea’s season, however, is that they failed to build on a good start and allowed Newcastle to remain in control for the remainder of the first half.
The visitors suffered an injury blow midway through the first quarter when Anthony Gordon was forced off.
But Alexander Isak produced quality finishing, firing low into the far corner to level Newcastle two minutes before half-time.
One new signing Chelsea have relied on all season is Cole Palmer, and the England international restored his side’s lead with a bang within the hour.
Palmer received a pass from Enzo Fernandez, cut inside and fired a powerful shot for his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
By contrast, Mihailo Mudric has frustrated many Chelsea managers since joining the club for £88 million ($113 million) just over a year ago.
After just five minutes on the pitch, the Ukrainian showed tremendous pace to break through the heart of Newcastle’s defense and score his sixth goal in 46 appearances for Chelsea.
Jacob Murphy’s rocket into the top corner capped a tense finish for the home side.
But it was too little, too late for the visitors in what has been a disappointing recent game.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
