Chelsea are unlikely to sack Mauricio Pochettino before the end of the season despite heavy back-to-back defeats, according to reports.
Wolves handed the Blues a 4-2 loss at Stamford Bridge over the weekend, just days after they were comprehensively beaten 4-1 at Anfield by Jurgen Klopp’s title-chasing Liverpool.
The result leaves the team 11th in the Premier League table, having won just half of their last ten matches in the competition, and facing a tough battle to qualify for Europe next season.
Despite the poor form, Chelsea are “not planning” a mid-season change of manager, as they did twice last season with Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, according to The Telegraph.
Pochettino, is, however, “under pressure” to improve results and show a measure of progress by the end of the campaign, the report adds.
In any case financial fair play may prevent Chelsea from firing the Argentine, as the club would have to pay out £10m in compensation to the manager and his backroom staff, according to the Mail.
The west London outfit are believed to be close to breaching profit and sustainability rules after spending over £1bn on transfers since Clearlake Capital bought the club from Roman Abramovich. The club are already under investigation for allegedly circumventing FFP during the Russian’s reign at the Bridge.
Chelsea are one point worse off under Pochettino (31) after 23 matches than they were under Potter (32) after the same number of games in the Premier League last season.
Pundit Chris Sutton believes the club need to be patient with Pochettino before pulling the trigger.
“It is easy to say you need to change manager,” the former Chelsea player told BBC Radio 5 Live. “If you look at the job Pochettino did at Tottenham, eventually he got there.
“Certainly there needs to be patience with the manager.”
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