Pochettino: ‘We fought for one another, for our followers, for our badge’

Mauricio Pochettino stated Chelsea proved they’re united because the gamers eased the strain on their supervisor by beautiful Aston Villa within the FA Cup.

Chelsea will now host Championship Leeds United within the fifth spherical – establishing a rematch of the well-known 1970 remaining and replay – as Pochettino heaped reward on £106.8million signing Enzo Fernandez for the way he has dealt with the criticism of him.

His unbelievable free-kick and passionate celebration got here after targets from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson, and Pochettino stated: ‘We are all together. 

‘I saw the team free, enjoying playing football, and that is important. We were united. 

‘We fought for each other. We fought for our fans, for our badge, for the coaching staff. That is the connection we need. Now the challenge is to be consistent.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino said Chelsea proved they are united on Wednesday night

Chelsea put in a superb performance as they toppled Villa 3-1 in a shock result at Villa Park

‘We are living in an era where it is easy to abuse. The players are human. They are not robots. It is so easy today to abuse. We need to understand that we are playing football. 

‘Enzo showed why he is here. He showed his quality. But we did not have any doubt about him, about Moises Caicedo, about any young player who arrived here with an expectation to win titles and score in every single match.

‘It is so important about creating a good energy between our fans and the club because the players need help. Today, the fans were fantastic.

‘With this connection, with this energy, with the players on the pitch showing they care about the club, only good things can happen. We need to stop thinking that we are Chelsea from the last 20 years, because we are not. We need to move on. I don’t care if individuals is pleased or sad with my speech. It is just I take care of the membership, I take care of my gamers. We are going to struggle.’

Winning the Carabao Cup remaining in opposition to Liverpool later this month would take Chelsea into the Europa Conference League, however triumphing within the FA Cup would safe Europa League soccer. 

Thiago Silva was dropped for this fourth-round replay – days after his spouse, Belle, known as for Pochettino’s sacking on social media following the 4-2 Premier League defeat by Wolves. Captain Ben Chilwell admitted their opponents ‘wanted it more’ in an trustworthy appraisal of that loss.

Yet on Wednesday evening, Chilwell stated: ‘It was exactly the reaction we wanted and needed. We wanted that pressure. We thrived off it. 

Conor Gallagher scored his first goal of the season to give the Blues an early lead at Villa Park

Nicolas Jackson doubled Chelsea’s advantage with the striker heading in Malo Gusto’s cross

Enzo Fernandez curled a free kick over the wall and into the top corner of the Villa net

‘The confidence before the game in the changing room was the best I have seen it – the togetherness. We delivered. It wasn’t just the manager. 

‘Everyone associated with the club needed that.’

Gallagher added: ‘The boys were up for it. That’s been our problem this season – we’ve had video games the place we have been sensible. We want to search out consistency.’

Villa boss Unai Emery stated: ‘Congratulations to Chelsea. We were excited. We were motivated. But they were clinical. They were so, so clinical. We competed but we were sometimes underperforming with their players. We have to accept the defeat and move on to Manchester United (at Villa Park on Sunday).’