Mauricio Pochettino reacts to Chelsea mentality concerns

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino insists his side do not have a mentality problem, despite their failure to turn a dominant performance into three points at West Ham on Sunday.

The Blues bossed the first half and created a host of openings but went into the break level at 1-1 after Enzo Fernandez’s penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola.

Michail Antonio’s strike gave the Hammers the lead against the run of play after the restart and, despite the home side being reduced to ten men midway through the second half, Pochettino’s side failed to create a clear-cut chance to equalise before Lucas Paqueta’s stoppage-time penalty clincher gave the hosts a 3-1 win.

Chelsea were also impressive in last weekend’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool, but have now taken just one point from their opening two matches, with last season’s weakness in front of goal - the Blues scored just 38 times in the League all season - already in danger of spilling into the new campaign.

"I don’t believe you can say it’s mentality, football is a holistic thing,” Pochettino said. “I think today the result doesn’t reflect the performance but in football we need to accept this situation happens.

“It’s a new team, new players and the players are not feeling what happened in the last few years here. It’s about believing and performing. A player like Nicholas Jackson this season, for sure, is going to score because he has quality.”

Carney Chukwuemeka’s first Blues goal provided a highlight for the visitors but the youngster was forced off injured at half-time, with Pochettino unable to provide an update beyond that the player will be assessed on Monday.

The Argentine was, however, left furious by the nature of West Ham’s first goal, with new signing James Ward-Prowse’s set-piece threat to the fore immediately as Nayef Aguerd benefitted from some slack marking to head home at the far post.

“The first half was really good but I was only disappointed with the way we conceded the first goal,” he added. “We know West Ham are so dangerous in set-pieces and transitions. We managed the transitions well but we conceded a few corners that at this level we can’t concede and then [from that] the goal.

“I was really upset about that at half-time and I think the players were angry and they agree.”