Coach Mauricio Pochettino Following Man Utd Match: ‘It was a must-win game’

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Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino was very excited following his boys’ defeat of Manchester United’s squad on Thursday, saying it was a must-win game.

Blues beat the Red Devils 4–3 at Stamford Bridge in the tough game Pochettino later revealed he saw as a must-win.

In his post-match statement to chelseafc.com, the Argentine tactician stated without quivering that Chelsea was the better team.

‘Of course I enjoyed it. It was amazing because I was thinking we deserved it, we were the better team today. It was fair when we scored in the last minute.

‘We started the game really well and at 2-0 for us the game was under control. Then we made a mistake and we suffered a big emotional impact. It wasn’t easy to deal with this.

‘In the second half again we controlled the game and we conceded in transition. Of course the way we conceded the three goals was disappointing because I think we should be better in these types of situations. But if you analyse the game I think it was a fair result, three points for us.

‘And to finish in the way that we finished, for the connection between our players and fans, it was a very good thing that happened for us tonight and it should be a turning point for the team and the fans to have trust in each other.’

What started out as a good night for Chelsea had suddenly turned into a tough fight near the middle of the game, and went on to resemble a hopeless one before Cole Palmer’s two goals in a minute crowned his side the winner.

Chelsea first scored twice during the first half, but inability to defend their goals helped United cancel out the goals. The Manchester visitors were to score once more in the future, though two unexpected injury-time goals finally stole their joy.

Pochettino who is still building a new team at Stamford Bridge said just before the match that his boys should sit up. He had added that the league his players found themselves in did not permit slow growth.

He claimed after the match that he expected to win even during the dying minutes.

‘It was very emotional at the end because of the way it happened and it felt really unfair when we were losing. The feeling was not so good because we were thinking why we were losing the game.

‘Football is like this, but until the end we always kept believing. When we scored the equaliser we were saying to our players that there was still two minutes and we believed that we could still score the winning goal.

‘I am so happy because the end was of course emotional, because we won the game like this and got three points. For us it was really important because it was a must-win game if we wanted to reduce the gap to the teams above us. The three points today was so important.’

Chelsea now sits 10th on the Premier League table.