CHELSEA risk a dressing room revolt if they sack Mauricio Pochettino this summer.
Despite accusing his players of "giving up" in Tuesday’s 5-0 thrashing at Arsenal, the players remain loyal to the manager as a turbulent season lurches towards the end.
Chelsea’s £1billion squad believe Pochettino is steadily generating a sense of unity within the camp even though results have been wildly erratic.
The young team assembled at huge cost also believe the Argentine head coach is doing the best he can in tough circumstances with a huge injury list in a squad that is massively inexperienced.
A source told SunSport: “They are all buying into what Poch is trying to do. The problems at Chelsea are not all his fault. Some of the players think he is the best man-manager in the business.
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“If Poch gets sacked it won’t go down well at all. He is not the problem.”
Chelsea insist it is ‘business as usual’ in the aftermath of their heaviest ever defeat to their London rivals and that there is still plenty to play for.
But it is understood a review will take place at the end of the season. Chelsea end the campaign at home to Bournemouth on May 19 and are in an uphill battle to qualify for Europe next season.
Former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino, 52, will have 12 months left on his two-year contract come June.
Axing him in the summer would make him the third managerial casualty in just two years since Chelsea were bought out by the American Clearlake Capital investment firm.
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Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter both fell foul of the new ownership regime which has turned Chelsea’s traditional business model of buying expensive, established stars on its head.
They have since embarked on a record-breaking spending spree buying up what they consider to be young, elite players with potential and placing them on lengthy contracts of up to eight years.
Chelsea’s players were given the day off on Wednesday to let the dust settle on their heaviest Premier League loss since being smashed 6-0 by Manchester City in 2019.
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Some of the younger members of the team which was hopelessly overwhelmed by Arsenal, were said to be "distraught" in the immediate aftermath of the Emirates match.
SunSport also understands the away dressing room was quiet after the game - with boss Pochettino preferring to send his downcast players head home and ponder the result instead of risking heated fallouts in the immediate aftermath of the humbling defeat.
The players are expecting a full team meeting when they resume training on Thursday with just 48 hours to prepare for Saturday’s tough trip to Champions League-chasing Aston Villa.
