Mauricio Pochettino furious as ‘soft’ Chelsea ‘gave up’ against Arsenal – Premier League top 6 challenge | OneFootball

Mauricio Pochettino was appalled, watching on as his Chelsea side ‘gave up’ on Tuesday night.

Arsenal hammering them 5-0, which was the biggest London derby defeat in 38 years for the Stamford Bridge club.

Mauricio Pochettino tearing into his players, calling them ‘soft’, after this gutless performance that saw them concede four goals in 18 second half minutes as the team collapsed.

Chelsea’s hopes of finishing top six taking a massive blow, not so much by losing to Arsenal, which wasn’t a shock. However, the manner of the defeat and the embarrassing nature and lack of character of so many of these Chelsea players, exposed yet again.

A very visible reminder of just how rotten their whole club is, on and off the pitch, which we saw even when they hammered a desperate Everton side 6-0 eight days earlier. That night, even though they were cruising to an easy victory, the Chelsea players still embarrassed themselves when two of them childishly demanded that they should take a penalty and not nominated penalty taker Cole Palmer, the pair of them both actually trying to wrestle the ball away from Palmer.

For me, it looks like when everything is going their way, these Chelsea players can turn in the odd good performance. However, once something goes against them, their total lack of character and respect for the club and fans, is very much exposed.

I am just so grateful that at Newcastle United we have Eddie Howe and a group of players who couldn’t be more different to what we see at Chelsea.

Mauricio Pochettino speaking after Chelsea collapsed to a 5-0 defeat against Arsenal – 23 April 2024:

“It is not difficult to explain.

“Everyone saw we didn’t compete from the beginning of the game.

“After we conceded, the team was so soft.

“I’m so disappointed with the start because we’re supposed to have full energy and compete better.

“We were not aggressive and we did not concentrate on situations where it is easy to find the solution.

“That is why I am so disappointed.

“We were talking at half-time to start [the second half] in a different way… but we did not.

“When we conceded the third goal the team gave up.

“The team showed a lack of capacity to resist – that is what is the problem.”

The race for the Premier League top six places is on and before last night’s embarrassing collapse, it had looked as though Chelsea could potentially make it a three horse race for sixth spot, alongside Newcastle United and Man U.

Chelsea are away to Champions League chasing Aston Villa at the weekend, so hopefully that will see another defeat and potentially a massive blow to any remaining hopes of reaching top six.

Newcastle United are away at Crystal Palace tonight and then home to Sheffield United on Saturday. I think if Eddie Howe can pull off another couple of wins and Chelsea lose at Villa, then I can’t see any chance of Pochettino’s side finishing above NUFC. Especially with such a better goal difference.

Man U have what look on paper their easiest two remaining matches coming up, with Sheffield United at home tonight, then Burnley visiting Old Trafford on Saturday. Any dropped points from Man U would be a massive bonus and when you saw how gutless they were and how they collapsed against Coventry, even worse than Chelsea at Arsenal, it will be interested to see how Ten Hag’s team get on.

Listed below are the updated general odds now available on Wednesday morning from the various bookies on who will finish Premier League top six this 2023/24 season:

11/10 Newcastle United

11/8 Man U

13/2 Chelsea

66/1 Brighton

475/1 West Ham

It won’t be easy at Selhurst Park tonight but if Newcastle reach close to the levels they showed against Tottenham in their last match, then it will be another three points for NUFC.

Wednesday 24 April 2024 – Crystal Palace v Newcastle (8pm)

Saturday 27 April 2024 – Newcastle v Sheff Utd (3pm)

Saturday 4 May 2024 – Burnley v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 11 May 2024 – Newcastle v Brighton (3pm)

Wednesday 15 May 2024 – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Sunday 19 May 2024 – Brentford v Newcastle (4pm)

(The final day of the season live TV matches will be selected closer to the day but all 10 PL games will be same time same day)

Wednesday 22 May 2024 – Tottenham v Newcastle (at MCG – Melbourne Cricket Ground)