Strange moment, Pochettino makes a curious comparison with Liverpool

Chelsea's preparations for its Carabao Cup final clash with Liverpool took another blow on Sunday as it was thrashed by Wolves at Stamford Bridge. The Blues had been beaten by Liverpool earlier in the week before their latest embarrassing defeat on home soil. That result left Chelsea in 11th in the Premier League, 15 points off the top four despite the huge transfer fees paid out in the last year. Unsurprisingly, the poor form has led to speculation over Mauricio Pochettino's future, with the ex-Tottenham boss having only taken over in the summer.

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But he has failed to arrest the slump and his record is now similar to that of Graham Potter, who was axed last season. The defeat to Wolves saw Pochettino and his players targeted but he bizarrely used Liverpool's weekend result as his defense. "After losing against Liverpool, it was like: 'Massive, massive fail. Look at Chelsea, how bad'. And of course, they lose now, Liverpool, against Arsenal and I didn't hear anything about that there is a similar result when we played against Liverpool," he said.

"I am a coach, huh? A head coach and sometimes we can make a mistake but that is football, that happened and we need to keep moving and stay strong. I think we have very good group of players. [But] for different reasons, like I have explained, we are not performing in the way people expect and always when the expectation is different to the reality, it is difficult to get what you deserve. That is why the patience never arrived."

Chelsea's run to the Carabao Cup final has been one bright point of the season but Liverpool will be favorites at Wembley later this month. The Reds blew Chelsea away at Anfield last week and Pochettino's men now face a tricky run before that match. Chelsea faces three away games on the spin with Aston Villa up first in an FA Cup fourth round replay. That is followed up by a trip to struggling Crystal Palace in a London derby before travelling to the Etihad to face Manchester City.

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Final comments

Defeats in those matches will only lead to more speculation about Pochettino's future, with the Argentine now the second-favorite to be the next managerial casualty in the Premier League. He added: "It’s a tough project but an exciting one. In this moment we are living in a situation that is not nice, but we can learn. “I received a very good text from them [the owners]. We are all in this together. That is the most important thing. I am a leader, and I need to reflect in every single action I do that I really trust the players.”