Mauricio Pochettino will be determined to return to winning ways when Chelsea face Everton at the weekend. The Blues will welcome Sean Dyche’s side to Stamford Bridge on Monday evening, April 15, with both hoping to move up the Premier League table.
Although Champions League qualification seems a long way off, Chelsea are determined to make it into the top six. The Toffees, meanwhile, will be trying to move away from the relegation battle at the bottom of the table after a points deduction.
This will be the west London side’s penultimate match ahead of a crunch FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City and it will be imperative to build momentum with Pochettino under pressure. So with that said, football.london has recently compiled what famous experts have said about Chelsea.
Preliminaries for the Europa League continue…
Chelsea sit ninth in the Premier League, just five points behind sixth-placed Manchester United in the Europa League qualifying race. The Blues have a game against the Red Devils that could be decisive until the end of the season.
Tickets are also expected for the European Conference League, where West Ham and Newcastle United are trying to rise in the rankings. However, two experts believe Chelsea could withdraw from UEFA competitions next term to avoid a possible financial fair play breach.
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In an interview with The Athletic, Kieran Maguire claimed the West London outfit may have to accept the ban. The football finance expert said: “It might be in Chelsea’s interest to do the same thing that Milan did.
“Here we are entering the realm of three-dimensional chess, which some clubs can play. When you pay bonuses to players to qualify for the competition, when you pay transportation, accommodation and other expenses, you are only making money. A small amount of money from the Conference League.
“If the opposition is modest you will struggle to get enough fans to come to Stamford Bridge. This is not a criticism of them. This is today’s modern economy.
“If they exceed UEFA limits, the question becomes: ‘Do we want to go and play in the Conference League next season?’ Because they won’t make money from it.”
Meanwhile, speaking to Sky Sports, Paul Merson said: “I think they will get to a stage where they don’t want to get into the European Conference. [League]certainly.
“Why would you want to take part in that on Thursday nights? Chelsea have a squad that is going to try to win the Premier League, not play in Magaluf on Thursday nights.”
FA Cup victory on the horizon…
Chelsea will face Manchester City at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, April 21. While the Blues need to beat the reigning champions to reach the final, Ally McCoist insisted Pochettino’s side have what it takes to upset the cup. apple card.
“I think there have been signs of improvement at Chelsea in recent weeks,” the talkSPORT pundit said last month. “There’s a lot of work to be done, I think Pochettino knows that and accepts it. I think Chelsea are capable of winning the cup, City will be favourites.”
“You could argue they were a bit unlucky against Liverpool in the League Cup, but I thought Liverpool were a slightly better team. They still have a long way to go before they can challenge Liverpool, City and maybe Arsenal in the league.” There is a way.”
Pochettino’s future is in question…
While much of the Chelsea fan base wants Pochettino sacked, Joe Cole has recently come out strongly in defense of the Argentinian. Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Blues midfielder said: “It’s a transition period for the club, we know that.
“There are young players and I watch them develop. When I watch them play, I want to progress with them. I want to help them. There is so much talent there, so much potential and I think Pochettino has done a great job.” because he constantly elaborates the narrative: ‘You can’t look at this team the way you look at Chelsea teams of the past’.
“This is an evolving team and the goals are different,” Cole added. “Poch is a top manager. [Graham] Potter was a senior executive, Frank [Lampard] He was a senior manager, [Thomas] Tuchel was a top manager… I think you need time and they need to work with what they have.”
A big summer transfer window…
Oddly, there is a tenuous link to Reece James and Conor Gallagher leaving Stamford Bridge before the summer transfer window. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new players recently, many believe Chelsea have no choice but to cash in on academy graduates.
But William Gallas has already ruled out the possibility of James and Gallagher leaving west London any time soon. Speaking to GamblingZone, the former Blues defender said: “Chelsea are not going to sell Reece James, you have to keep players coming through the academy and you need players with that identity.
“He is the captain but unfortunately he gets injured often; we have to keep him despite this. Same with Connor Gallagher, they both need to stay. I know there are financial problems at the moment but they also want to sell another player to fix this.”
Then, regarding the question of whether Chelsea needed a new striker, Gallas said: “Nicolas Jackson is a player who I say needs more time and he is still young, only 22 years old. He is a striker who can improve himself and score more goals. He scored goals and this He’s now scored nine goals in 25 Premier League games, which isn’t too bad.
“I’d set him a target of finishing around 15 goals, which would be great. He still needs to improve in front of goal, he showed good movement against Burnley but his finishing wasn’t good enough to take those chances. We can still do it.” “I have confidence in him for next season because he is still young and will improve.”