Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino spoke at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the Blues’ home match against Sheffield United this weekend. Here are three key things we learned.
Sanchez out, Poch “has confidence” in stand-in Petrovic
“When you lose your number one keeper it is always a player you will miss. But we have a keeper who is working hard to be ready. We will miss him (Sanchez) for a few weeks and we will have to look at the situation.
“Of course I have faith. He arrived at Chelsea because we believe in his potential. He came from football in the USA but now after four or five months with us, it is time for him to step up.
“I have confidence in him to make his debut at Stamford Bridge. We trust that he can perform how we want.”
James might need hamstring surgery
“He is our key player and captain and was ready and excited to come back and it was a perfect step-by-step process. We played him for 35 minutes then 45, then 60, and that was to build his confidence.
“But for him it is difficult to accept and we have to find the best solution for him. It is always difficult to be calm but we are here to help him and make a full recovery and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Fit-again Nkunku is in the squad
“It’s very good news, he will be in the squad and will be good for competition. But we need to be calm and quiet and not put all the pressure on him but he can be an important player for us.”