Chelsea ease pressure on manager Mauricio Pochettino with classy FA Cup replay win at Aston Villa

BIRMINGHAM – Mauricio Pochettino hailed Chelsea’s 3-1 away win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth-round replay on Feb 7 as “the best performance of the season”, but was also quick to remind fans that his young team will need “time and trust” if they are to build on this project.

Successive heavy losses in the English Premier League had left the Blues in 11th place in the standings despite a massive outlay on signings, and has placed a huge strain on Pochettino.

Bizarrely, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain manager also came under fire from the wife of his experienced defender Thiago Silva.

She took to social media calling for change after a 4-2 home drubbing by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Feb 4.

Veteran Silva was left on the bench at Villa Park, but Pochettino’s young guns finally delivered the kind of sustained display that has been sadly lacking this season.

First-half goals by Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea in control, before Enzo Fernandez delivered a sublime free kick after half-time.

Villa, who are on the fringe of the Premier League title race and 15 points above Chelsea, were outplayed as their cup hopes evaporated and Moussa Diaby’s late effort was a mere consolation.

When asked by ITV Sport if it was one of Chelsea’s best performances, Pochettino replied: “I think so... it is one of the best or maybe the best of the season.

“I’m so happy with the performance. It’s about being solid and consistent, and that’s the most difficult for a young team to find the balance.

“Today I was so pleased, the team were ready to compete, ready to fight with energy and attitude.”

Villa began brightly but were stopped in their tracks in the 11th minute as Jackson pulled the ball back for Noni Madueke, who teed up Gallagher to sidefoot a clinical finish into the roof of the net.

With confidence surging, Chelsea doubled their lead in the 21st minute as right-back Malo Gusto’s cross was headed past Emiliano Martinez to send the 7,000 visiting fans wild.

Fernandez’s impact at Chelsea has failed to justify the more than £100 million (S$169 million) the club splashed out to sign him.

However, he showed his class with an unstoppable curling free kick that had his World Cup-winning Argentina teammate Martinez clawing at thin air.

The joy among the buoyant Chelsea fans was unrestrained and the performance might just prove to be a turning point.

“It was exactly the reaction we wanted and needed. It wasn’t about wanting a reaction. We needed it,” Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell told ITV.

“Fair play to all of the boys. We wanted that pressure. We thrived off it. The confidence before the game in the changing room was the best it’s been.”

However, Pochettino made an impassioned plea to fans to not compare his young team to the successful sides in recent years, as expectations could have a bearing on their progress.

“We need to stop this thing that we are Chelsea from 20 years ago. We are not this type of Chelsea any more,” the 51-year-old Argentinian said.

“Now we need to move on and we need to create this project... I don’t care if people are happy or not happy with my speech. I care for the club, I care for my players, I want to help the players.

“This type of project needs time and trust. We cannot build a team to challenge because you need to fix too many things, you need to observe, analyse and compete.

“We are building a project which may be one year, two years, three years. Today you can see we were ready to fight.”

It was a disappointing night for Villa, who had 13 wins and only two losses at home in all competitions before their clash with Chelsea, and manager Unai Emery narrowed this surprising result purely down to finishing.

“We were excited and motivated and we started well, we didn’t score but we were feeling good,” said the Spaniard.

“When they were getting in our box, we were not being strong and they were affecting us. They got into our box with some crosses and were clinical. I was more or less feeling the difference was the clinical way for them.

“We scored a little bit late and had no time to score the second goal. We have to accept and analyse the match. To beat them is not easy when you’re not being clinical.”

Eight-time FA Cup winners Chelsea will host Leeds United in the fifth round in a throwback to the 1970 final.

Nottingham Forest will host Manchester United next, after they edged out second-tier Bristol City on penalties following a 1-1 draw at the City Ground. REUTERS