When Mauricio Pochettino could be sacked ahead of major Chelsea decision

After Chelsea's humiliating 5-0 defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday night, the pressure has arguably never been higher on Mauricio Pochettino.

The Blues crumbled at the Emirates Stadium to dent their chances of qualifying for European football this season. With six games left to go in their season, Chelsea are in ninth-place, one point behind West Ham United and three below Newcastle United.

Pochettino will see his position as Blues head coach assessed at the end of the season, football.london understands. That, ever since he was appointed almost 12 months ago, has always been the plan with the Argentine signing a two-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Conversations between the club's board and the 52-year-old will take place in the summer before Chelsea jet off to the United States for their pre-season tour in July. Pochettino, to his own admission following Chelsea's heavy loss to Arsenal earlier this week, believes the club need to be "clinical" in the summer transfer market to improve in time for next season.

"There are too many reasons why this happens," Pochettino replied when asked what went wrong for Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. "That's what we need to explain to the club for the future.

"The club is building a new project, a new way to operate and of course always that is a risk you need to take when you build a young squad that sometimes with all the circumstances that we are living are not helping us be competitive or be better or consistent. That is the reason this type of game can happen when you play a team capable to win the Premier League."

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Pochettino continued: "When we have bad days, we are so bad. Then when we are good we are capable of everything. That is something we need to be aware of for the future.

"We need to accept this is one of the worst defeats for Chelsea against Arsenal. We need to accept the risk we took to come here. We need to be positive to help, be clever to help and assess the strategy for the plan and the future. It should be better in our analysis and to try to be clinical in our decisions to not be in this situation for the future."

Qualifying for Europe has always been – and still is – a big target for Pochettino in his debut season at Chelsea. The Blues went far in both domestic cup competitions but have lost in their two appearances at Wembley Stadium this season.

There is some suggestion the Chelsea board want to add stability to the club, something that would suggest Pochettino's job remains safe. However, more and more supporters have turned on the Argentine in recent weeks and that does usually have a big bearing on the club's definitive decision.