‘It’s not fair’ to judge Chelsea due to injury problems, says Pochettino

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino says it is unfair to make judgments on his disappointing debut season at the club due to the Blues’ injury problems.

Pochettino could be without 11 first-team players for Monday’s visit to Everton as the west Londoners aim to make a late push to qualify for European football next season.

Chelsea are ninth in the Premier League but just five points behind sixth-placed Manchester United with a game in hand.

Even a return to Europe next season in the Europa League or Europa Conference League represents a meager return for more than a billion pounds ($1.3 billion) invested by the club’s owners over the past two years in new players.

Pochettino criticized his young team for not being “mature enough” after dropping two points to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United last weekend by conceding an injury-time equaliser.

But the Argentine admitted that he needs to have a more positive tone and accept the “reality” of the situation he faces.

“To be honest, it is true that it is a special season for us because we are suffering (a lot of injuries) at the moment,” Pochettino said in a pre-match press conference on Friday.

“At the moment it’s not fair to judge players. It’s very difficult when you don’t have a fit squad, we want to increase competition between them, but that’s no excuse.

“We need to be more positive and accept that this is the reality. I think sometimes I need to be more positive because we have a really good squad and we need to work to support them.”

Axel Disasi and Enzo Fernandez are the latest players to join Pochettino’s injury list, while Raheem Sterling and Robert Sanchez could miss out for Everton due to illness.

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