"It is going to be tough": Mauricio Pochettino addresses Chelsea's chances of playing European football next season
Dec 01, 2023
London [UK], December 1 : Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino talked about the chances of Blue's to qualify for European football ahead of their clash against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
Chelsea have struggled to produce results throughout this season even after playing a free-flowing style of football on the majority of their outings.
They are exactly at the halfway point of the table on the 10th spot with four victories, four draws and five defeats.
Chelsea are currently nine points away from a European competition spot and they will need three points to take a step closer towards the spot which seems to be an elusive dream at this point.
"This is mathematic. We need to believe it is realistic. It is going to be tough to achieve the places to play in European competition but it is still there. The most important problem now is not to [look to] the end of the season but the process and to improve every day. It's important to be focused on today and not tomorrow. That's one of the aspect we working to this week," Pochettino said in the pre-match press conference as quoted from Sky Sports.
A victory will take them closer but the margin that they cut off the deficit will depend on the other result.
Ahead of the game, Pochettino talked about his recent outburst against Newcastle and what Chelsea need to do against Brighton in order to pull off a result in their favour.
"We are our worst enemy. We need to focus on us. If we're in a good place, for sure we'll compete in a very good way. OK, we're going to pay attention [to Brighton] but at this moment we need to pay more attention to ourselves," Pochettino said.
"It's not the opponent. It was Tottenham, Manchester City and Newcastle and I think you said most likely to take points is against Newcastle because they were playing after three days a very tough game against PSG and can be distracted. But then we beat Tottenham, played an amazing game against Manchester City and lose against Newcastle," Pochettino added.
