Mauricio Pochettino suffered another major setback at the start of his Chelsea tenure (Picture: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino has urged Chelsea’s big spending owners to ‘support the plan’ after watching his side beaten for the third time already this season.
Aston Villa emerged victorious from Stamford Bridge, as Nottingham Forest had done so a fortnight ago, with a 1-0 victory.
Ollie Watkins scored the decisive goal in the 73rd minute and has Emiliano Martinez to thank for a late save that denied Ben Chilwell an equaliser.
The Argentina international had also saved well earlier from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson as Chelsea again failed to score.
Todd Boehly and his Clearlake consortium have invested £1billion on new talent since assuming control of the Premier League club and could be forgiven for feeling bewildered at the start their team has made to life under Pochettino.
With Christopher Nkunku injured and Armando Broja only just back to full fitness, Pochettino won’t get the chance to strengthen his forward line until January at the earliest.
Boehly has already shown his ruthless side by dispensing with Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, but Pochettino has implored the club’s owners to stick with the long-term vision.
Ollie Watkins scored Aston Villa’s winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)
He said: Give me time because I didn’t see them after the game. They are disappointed they are so excited to build some project but of course they feel disappointed. But at the same time they need to support the plan.’
Asked if he was frustrated by his team, who were forced to play with 10 men following Malo Gusto’s red card, Pochettino added: ‘I am just disappointed. I think we were the better team until the red card.
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‘The team has given everything, we need to keep working. To play with 10 men is always difficult but the team worked hard.
‘We need to change the situation, the only way I know we can change the situation is by working really hard.
‘We are confident in the way we perform. The only thing we are missing is scoring. If we keep working hard we will change.’
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