Mauricio Pochettino is the bookies' current favourite to take over at Chelsea if Graham Potter was to be sacked, with pressure mounting on the Englishman after weeks of poor results.
Potter impressed in his first few games as Chelsea boss, but since the end of the Champions League group stages the Blues have hit a rotten run of form, winning just two of their last 15 games in all competitions. Currently 10th in the Premier League, out of both domestic cup competitions and behind on aggregate in their Champions League Round of 16 tie, fans are calling for Potter to be sacked.
Former Tottenham boss Pochettino is currently the favourite to become Chelsea manager if Potter was to be sacked, but as things stand, the Englishman's job is secure, despite recent results. Pochettinho has been out of management since July last year after leaving Paris Saint-Germain, with the Argentine spending 18 months in France after his departure from Spurs in 2019.
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So, if Chelsea were to appoint Pochettino as their new manager, could the Argentine get Chelsea's season back on track? We simulated the rest of the season to find out.
Remainder of Chelsea's 2022/23 season simulated with Mauricio Pochettino
To set up this simulation, we used Football Manager 2023 to simulate the rest of Chelsea's 2022/23 season from Friday, February 24, 2023. We then replaced Potter with Pochettino as Chelsea manager to see how he could perform during the remainder of the season.
11 points off the top four when taking over, Pochettinho had his work cut out on his arrival, though he would need to rely on results elsewhere if the Blues were to claim a top-four spot. Despite his best efforts, Chelsea could only finish in seventh, though they did show big improvement.
In the 15 league games Pochettino oversaw, Chelsea won 10, drew three and lost two games, a big improvement on Potter's recent form. The two defeats came consecutively in April against Man United and Brentford, whilst the three draws came against Wolves, Leicester City and Brighton.
Finishing seventh meant that Chelsea would play Europa Conference League in the following season, with the Blues ending the season nine points off Man United in fourth and four points off Spurs in sixth. In the Champions League, Pochettino helped Chelsea advance to the semi-finals, but the Blues fell at the penultimate hurdle.
After beating Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, Chelsea faced Liverpool in the semi-finals of the competition. A 0-0 draw at Anfield left it all to play for in the second leg, but goals from Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson and Cody Gakpo secured a 3-0 win over the Reds to knock Chelsea out of the Champions League.
Overall, FM23 predicts that Pochettino could make an instant improvement at Chelsea, but his impact was too little too late as the Blues could only finish in seventh place. Chelsea lost just four games in all competitions following the Argentine's arrival, with the former Spurs man bringing the best out of January signings Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke who notched 14 goals between them.
Do you think Pochettino could be a good fit at Chelsea? Let us know in the comments!
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