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Mauricio Pochettino makes Chelsea sack admission ahead of final Premier League game

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino is planning to be at Chelsea next season -Credit:MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images


Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he felt at his lowest as Chelsea head coach after they were beaten 4-2 at home to Wolves in early-February.

The Blues were beaten at Stamford Bridge in what was one of the poorest performances Pochettino's team have given under his leadership. What followed were mass boos around the stadium and even a few chanting Jose Mourinho's name with the former Chelsea boss having just being sacked from his position at AS Roma.

The performance even prompted Belle Silva, Thiago Silva's wife, to tweet during the game, saying: "It's time to change. If you wait any longer it will be too late."

The defeat, with all of the circumstances amid widespread injury problems throughout the group, made it difficult for Pochettino to see a way back. He was initially hesitant to answer the question so directly, but after being given the go-ahead from his assistant Jesus Perez, who was sat in the press conference room, Pochettino shed light on his lowest moment in charge of the Blues thus far.

"I can be honest? We can be honest?" Pochettino asked. "I think after Wolves. No, I didn't think we are going to be sacked, but it was a tough moment.

"That defeat at home was really tough, really tough. That was… At this moment, as a coach and a staff, you feel loneliness. When you feel like everyone is seeing you as if you're guilty of something and you don't know what's going on."

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But was he expecting 'the call' from co-owner Todd Boehly? "No, no, no," Pochettino said, shaking his head.

"In this moment, we feel the loneliness. We were alone there after the game. Waiting. We spent two hours… It was a long time after the game we were there, watching at each other, the five coaching staff, in a very small room.

"Yes, but not thinking [we were going to be sacked]. We were more sad. It was an unfair situation we were in. It was a situation we didn’t deserve, but the result put us in a very difficult situation.”

Since the defeat over three months ago, Chelsea have improved. Especially in the last four matches, where the Blues have picked up 12 points from games against Tottenham, West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.

There has been a big turnaround, but his status as Chelsea boss is still believed to be under consideration. Pochettino is due to speak to the owners and sporting directors over the summer about what the club's plans are in the future, but that has always been the case with the Argentine almost halfway through his initial two-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Either way, his attentions are firmly on Sunday's final game of the season at home to Bournemouth. Should Chelsea avoid defeat, they will finish in sixth-place; but it could get better for the Blues should Sheffield United, the division's rock-bottom side, manage to beat Tottenham. That way, Chelsea will finish fifth.