Mikel Arteta makes his feelings clear on Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea struggles

Mikel Arteta says he hopes Mauricio Pochettino can turn things around at Chelsea after they were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal on Tuesday.

Leandro Trossard gave Arsenal the lead after just four minutes, while Ben White and former Chelsea star Kai Havertz both bagged a brace. The win saw Arsenal move three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, although Pep Guardiola's side do have a game in hand.

And while he was delighted with his own team's performance, Arteta admitted he sympathises with Pochettino's struggles with Chelsea currently ninth in the league. "All the sympathy in the world with everything that he's been through, everything that he's doing, he knows that," Arteta said.

"I've been on the other side as well and nothing. He's doing a great job, if you look at this team and analyse six, seven games of them, they deserve to win every match they play big games, big teams and they deserve to beat all of them.

"Hopefully things will turn around and be as he deserves. I love winning and he will try to do the same. When you talk about sympathy and someone that I love and admire, for sure I want the best for him."

Pochettino, meanwhile, bemoaned Chelsea's lack of consistency after the "great performance" they put in against Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday. "It's difficult because we are talking after nearly one season in the same way," he said.

"But it's impossible to see Saturday at Wembley a fantastic performance, competing really well against one of the best teams in the world like Manchester City, and then today. You can lose games against a team like Arsenal that is fighting for the Premier League, but it is the way we compete, three days ago and then today.

Chelsea were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal on Tuesday
(Image: Getty Images)

"We needed to make changes to the starting line-up for different reasons, but that is the inconsistency we have been showing all season. Three days ago it was a fantastic game, great performance and we deserved to go to the final.

"Today you can use any words to describe our performance, it wasn't good. It's true we did not compete. I cannot blame the players, as a team we are showing this inconsistency. That is why we are where we are, because we are capable of having an amazing performance, and three days later to be at the other extreme.

"When we have bad days, we are so bad. When we are good, we are capable of everything. But it's another thing that we need to be aware that we need to improve for the future. We cannot blame the players, I'm not going to blame the players."

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