Mauricio Pochettino identifies reason behind Chelsea injury crisis with 14 players out vs Tottenham

Pochettino is without a wealth of first-team players for their clash against Tottenham and is aiming for his youngsters to rise to the occasion

Mauricio Pochettino lamented a season of extremes for his inconsistent Chelsea side (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Wire)

Mauricio Pochettino has identified the issues Chelsea have faced as he ruled 14 players out for their Premier League crunch match against Tottenham on Thursday.

During Pochettino’s first year in charge of Chelsea he has been heavily affected by a constant flow of injuries, with Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi added to the list since their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

They head into the London derby with Tottenham without the likes of Raheem Sterling, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez, and Pochettino is looking for his side to improve the injury crisis within the club ahead of next season.

The Chelsea manager said: “I need to be honest, with a new process there are things we can do better. We all feel the responsibility and all of us can do better because there are too many circumstances that have happened and it is difficult to explain with one sentence.

“We are working to try and improve, we have an amazing medical staff and coaching staff, who all have experience managing clubs and we need to put all the information on the table, at the end of the season and be better next season.

“We need to improve the communication, the dynamics and the strategy, so we need to put all our knowledge to try and improve and coordinate better on all the things we can improve.

“There are too many things, that are all together today that is why we are suffering so many injuries.”

The extended list of players ruled out also includes Malo Gusto, Levi Colwill and Christopher Nkunku, with the latter two returning to full team training, which means Pochettino is relying on Chelsea’s youth to embrace the challenge.

Pochettino said: “I think it is a great opportunity for some kids to be on the bench, and have the possibility to maybe play.

“When this opportunity appears, you have to be conscious and to say ‘let’s step up and show we are here and we want to play for the first team at Chelsea.’ It is a great opportunity tomorrow, and it is going to be a great game.”