Mauricio Pochettino has said Chelsea suffered in their 5-0 defeat at Arsenal but has denied his team lacked the belief to win the game.
Chelsea endured a humiliating evening at the Emirates on Tuesday night as Arsenal ran riot to thrash their London rivals. Kai Havertz haunted his former team with two goals for the Gunners, with Ben White (2) and Leandro Trossard also on target.
The Blues conceded four goals inside an 18-minute spell in the second half, but Pochettino refused the suggestion that his side collapsed after an early setback that saw Chelsea concede the opening goal just four minutes in.
“No that is not true, that is not true. We conceded the first goal, of course, after four minutes and the team was there, we created some chances, the team was in the game,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Aston Villa.
“In the second half, we conceded the second goal. In the second half, we maybe showed the lack of capacity. The first 45 minutes, everyone believed and saw that the team was there, was fighting and trying to score.
“Lack of belief, in the circumstances, sometimes happens. After the disappointment against Manchester City [in the FA Cup semi-final], no time to recover, playing against a team that is playing for the Premier League. With our circumstances, I think, all was negative for the team and that is why we suffered.”
Pochettino said his team are determined to bounce back tomorrow against an Aston Villa team pushing for Champions League qualification. He wants the West Londoners to regain respect after being embarrassed at Arsenal last time out.
“We were talking a lot, today we had a meeting. We tried to realise how we need to behave when the game is tough, when the demands are so high. We need to try and be more strong and to trust in the way that we play, in our philosophy, in the way we prepare the games.
“To have the discipline, it’s true, like after the game, we cannot blame the players that the circumstances that we are leaving. We need to be positive and we need to be strong and believe tomorrow we can have a good game, good attitude, good approach. We are going to compete again with another team, fighting for the top. We need to think we are Chelsea and respect ourselves.”
