Mauricio Pochettino frustrated by ‘extremes’ of inconsistent Chelsea campaign

Mauricio Pochettino lamented a season of “extremes” for Chelsea after they fell to their biggest defeat in more than five years in Tuesday’s loss to Arsenal.

The 5-0 hammering at the Emirates Stadium, as well as being their worst ever result against the Gunners, was the fifth time this season that the team have conceded four or more goals in a Premier League match.

The Argentinian was left frustrated by the wild fluctuations seen across his side’s performances, with the beating in north London coming three days after they were arguably the better team in losing 1-0 to champions Manchester City in their FA Cup semi-final.

“We are capable of having amazing performances, and three days after (the semi-final), in extremes,” said Pochettino.

“Our standard is not sustained. The bad days, when we have bad days, we are so bad. Then when we are good, we are capable of everything.”

Chelsea were without talismanic forward Cole Palmer at the Emirates, the 21-year-old missing out due to illness eight days after his four goals in the team’s 6-0 win over Everton propelled him to the top of the scoring charts alongside City striker Erling Haaland.

It was the side’s biggest win under Pochettino but the euphoria of the result at Stamford Bridge seemed a distant memory as they were humiliated by Mikel Arteta’s title-chasers.

Heavy defeats have become a discomfiting theme of a poor season. Prior to Monday’s thrashing the team had lost 4-1 away at Newcastle and Liverpool and 4-2 at home to Wolves, whilst a porous defence was exposed in high-scoring games against City (4-4) and Manchester United (a 4-3 win).

As well as contending with Palmer’s absence, Pochettino was forced to field an unfamiliar back four at the Emirates which included