Mauricio Pochettino admits he doesn’t know if he will be at Chelsea next season and called on the club to provide some clarity.
The Argentine is approaching the midpoint of his two-year deal at Stamford Bridge with the first 12 months containing plenty of highs and lows.
He has faced anger from supporters – most recently after a 5-0 thumping at Arsenal – but did guide the Blues to the EFL Cup final while recent wins over Everton and Tottenham have shown signs of progression from a talented but inexperienced squad.
Pochettino indicated he had grown tired of the constant speculation around his position and hoped for some backing from the boardroom.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s home game with West Ham, he said: “[The task] is to prove after all these circumstances [injuries] that we deserve to be here next season.
“Who is going to judge me? We need to judge ourselves.
“Enough with these types of rumours. If I have one year more on my contract here, and no one says nothing, suppose I am going to be here. [Unless] we finish the season and someone says to me ‘ciao’.
“We don’t know at the moment. I have one year more [on my] contract. But enough about stupid rumours. You need to ask the club if they want me to keep going or not, not to write things that have no sense.”
Chelsea were excellent in last night’s win over Spurs, secured by goals from Trevoh Chalabah and Nicolas Jackson.
And Pochettino is hoping for more of the same at the weekend.
He added: “Now it’s about keeping the same mentality for Sunday.
“We are going to play a team that is so strong physically. They’re having a fantastic season also, competing in Europe.
“For us, we need to recover players, we don’t have too many options. They [West Ham] have had the whole week to prepare the game. The most dangerous games are coming.”
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