Mauricio Pochettino said he was pleased with the performance from Chelsea as his team beat Crystal Palace in a ‘tough’ contest at Stamford Bridge.
Noni Madueke’s 89th minute penalty earned Chelsea a 2-1 win, after the substitute sent Dean Henderson the wrong way from the spot late on. Palace had threatened to take a point from the London Derby, after Michael Olise’s strike cancelled out a Chelsea opener from Mykhailo Mudryk.
The win saw Chelsea bounce back from a disappointing defeat at Wolves last time out and Pochettino discussed the challenge of finding consistency in his side’s results and performances.
“When you come from a not nice result, it’s always a difficult moment to play. It was really tough, but I’m pleased with the performance overall,” the Chelsea boss said.
“We didn’t start well; we were a little bit nervous and struggled because we were thinking too much about a game we really needed to win.
“We created chances to score, we scored, but I wasn’t so happy we conceded in the last minute. The second half we started well again, played a bit more, and I’m so happy the players from the bench had such a good impact.
“We were talking at the end about mentality. Mentality is about preparing yourself, competing in the best way, knowing the Premier League is really tough. That is where we want to be consistent, it’s a big challenge.
“We are starting to build our run of winning games at Stamford Bridge. The last year or year-and-an-half the results were not so good, so it’s so important to win in front of our fans.”
Madueke’s goal was a pleasing moment for the winger, who has endured a frustrating campaign and had featured for just 130 minutes in the Premier League before the clash with Palace.
On Madueke’s impact from the bench, Pochettino added: “I am so happy because a player who comes from the bench needs to show this character and this hunger. He showed he was ready to take the opportunity.
“He played free. He did what we needed in this moment. I liked it because he showed he was disappointed with me because he didn’t play too much.”
