Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to seal a third consecutive home win with Mykhaylo Mudryk and Noni Madueke both on target.
Blues’ boss Mauricio Pochettino – clearly pleased with the three points – however stressed the need for a “change of mentality” from his players as they continue to push on for more consistent form, saying: “We need to understand that in the Premier League, you need to fight.”
The Argentine boss was pleased with his side’s performance as they clung pn tenaciously to edge out Crystal Palace 2-1 on Wednesday to lay hands on their third home league win in a row. The Blues needed a late penalty to move past Palace at Stamford Bridge, with Noni Madueke converting the decisive 89th-minute spot-kick.
“We need to realize we are Chelsea. A great history, the pressure is to win but we are such nice players, young,” Pochettino replied when asked what his plans were to improve consistency at the club.
“We need to understand that in the Premier League, you need to fight. And then you play.
“You need to match [the other team]. Palace came here with very good players but the first idea is to go and to fight and be really aggressive. For us, sometimes we show a lack of this. Xx “It’s going to be tough to be consistent because like you know, in the process of building a team it is always up and down, but we have the quality.”
Mykhaylo Mudryk came through with the first goal for Chelsea before Michael Olise levelled on the brink of half-time. A VAR intervention gifted the Blues a penalty when Eberechi Eze clumsily fouled substitute Madueke in the penalty area, and the 21-year-old held his nerves to dispatch the spot kick for a crucial three points.
“I’m so glad with Noni Madueke that he stepped up and that is an impact we need from the bench,” the Chelsea manager added.
“Go there and go to fight. That is the way we need to build this project.”
When asked about Chelsea’s realistic aims for the rest of the season, Pochettino spoke of the importance of his players’ ability to “step up”.
“I want to win all the games, for sure, we’ll be there on the top,” he joked. “But, of course, being realistic I think we are a little bit far.
“We need to keep going, pushing and believing. It’s important that the players start to realise that we need to step up, that we need to change our mentality.
“If we start to build a run in the mentality that the team we showed today, of course, we are going to have the quality to fight for victories.”