Mauricio Pochettino calls Chelsea's fifth-round FA Cup victory a 'big relief' as he requests more 'time'

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino called his team's fifth round FA Cup victory against Leeds United a "big relief."

The Blues came from behind at Stamford Bridge to triumph 3-2, setting up a quarter-final encounter against Leicester City.

Mateo Joseph opened the scoring for Leeds in the eighth minute, but goals from Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk meant Chelsea went into the half-time break with a 2-1 lead.

Joseph scored again just before the hour mark, and the match looked to be heading to extra-time as the score remained level.

Conor Gallagher struck for Chelsea in the last minute, however, resulting in a relieved Pochettino during his post-match interview with ITV.

The Argentine is under increased scrutiny after Chelsea lost to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last weekend, with the team’s 11th-place position in the Premier League table also contributing to the growing pressure.

"It is difficult because of the expectations," Pochettino said. "The team needs to find the right balance during the season and you need time and they can perform. It is normal that you need time, but in the past four weeks we are doing fantastic.

"The team are fighting and starting to behave like a team. We are short a bit in the squad and we have 10-12 always injured players.

"Enzo [Fernandez] and [Moises] Caicedo are playing and playing and we don't have players to give them a rest. The changes were because we need to give some players some rest.

"Cole Palmer was sick last night, [Ben] Chilwell had some problems, [Conor] Gallagher also."

Chelsea’s lacklustre performance during extra-time against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final led former Manchester United and England player Gary Neville to describe the team as "blue billion-pound bottle jobs", which Pochettino described as "not fair."

"He was frustrated because Liverpool won another title," he said. "I think it's not fair to accuse people in this way, with a team that's very young.

"The expectation is massive because we are Chelsea but this team needs to build and build the confidence. The unity is starting to grow, it's not magic, you can't just create it."

Chelsea will now continue their Premier League campaign against Brentford on Saturday, March 2.

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.