The Argentine has one win from his first six league matches (Picture: AFP)
Former Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has suggested Mauricio Pochettino’s gruelling training demands may be contributing to Chelsea’s abundance of injuries and lacklustre start to the season.
The west Londoners are currently marooned in 14th place in the Premier League table after picking up just one win from their first six matches, while they have only netted five goals.
Their profligacy continued on Sunday in a 1-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa, with Ollie Watkins netting the game’s only goal shortly after Malo Gusto had been sent off.
Chelsea have been hampered by a string of injuries to key players, a crisis that was branded ‘an absolute mess’ by Trevoh Chalobah’s personal trainer in leaked messages last week.
Asked about those messages, ex-Spurs star Lennon suggested Pochettino’s gruelling training regime – which is known to include double and even triple sessions – could be playing a factor in Chelsea’s struggles so far this season.
On whether it is helpful to have such stories leak out, Lennon told Stadium Astro: ‘No definitely not, and I think that’s the last thing you need.
‘When you’re not getting results on the pitch, and then things are coming out from inside the dressing room, it makes it all a little bit of a circus.
Chelsea are only four points above the relegation zone (Picture: Getty)
‘It’s a bit like Man United at the minute, it’s just story after story, and that’s when, normally, things are not going well and players are unhappy.
‘If you do look at the injury list, I actually looked at it and thought [about] Pochettino’s training methods.
‘He does change the training routine. He did it when he came to Spurs. Some of our players, we did struggle at the beginning because it was a completely different load and maybe that is playing a part.’
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Reflecting on Chelsea’s start to the campaign more generally, Lennon continued: ‘I really think Chelsea are in for a tough season.
‘We’ve talked about changing so many players and so many managers, and a lot of these players are really young, they’ve not played in the league and they’ve come for big, big price tags.
‘The pressure of what Chelsea fans expect, they’re not going to accept this.
‘They’re on five points in six games, no goals in three games. For Chelsea? It’s unheard of. They’re under massive pressure and I really think Pochettino has got a difficult, difficult task at hand.’
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