Chelsea currently sit in the bottom half of the table and have not won any of their last three games, but Mauricio Pochettino is to be in the dugout at Wembley against Liverpool.
For a club that has paid more than £1 billion in transfer fees since the new owners took over last May, Chelsea are floundering in mid-table mediocracy.
They have lost their last two league games and conceded four in both – first to Liverpool and then Wolves – to sit 11th in the table on 31 points, 20 behind Klopp’s men at the top.
Criticism is growing and pressure is mounting on Pochettino, though The Standard report that he retains “the backing of the Chelsea hierarchy,” who are “not planning another mid-season managerial change.”
This would keep the Argentine at the helm for the Carabao Cup final on February 25, but he does not have an easy build-up as Chelsea have games against Aston Villa and Man City before then.
Interestingly on the point of Chelsea not sacking their fourth manager in three years, the Mail claim the club are “concerned” that another change “could put them in danger of breaching Premier League spending rules.”
Pochettino has 18 months remaining on his contract and his dismissal, in addition to his team, would “cost Chelsea in excess of £10 million” and count towards profit and sustainability rules.
They’re already under the microscope for their lavish spending, and many expect a number of player sales in the summer transfer window to balance the books.
The London club signed players to excessively long contracts to take advantage of a loophole that has now been closed, and the Athletic report some players “have privately expressed regret” and “do not see the grand project that was sold to them.”
Not really a surprise now, is it?
