Boehly hails Chelsea’s ‘beautiful’ football under Pochettino

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly boosted Mauricio Pochettino’s chances of being kept on as manager next season as he praised the “beautiful” football being played by the team.

Speaking at a Sportico event in Los Angeles, Boehly – whose Clearlake Capital consortium purchased the club from former owner Roman Abramovich in May 2022 – said the “commentary has changed” surrounding the team in recent weeks, following a tumultuous first two years of his leadership.

The Blues have enjoyed an upturn in fortunes since they were hammered 5-0 by Premier League leaders Arsenal at the end of April, recovering to take seven points from their next three matches to give themselves a chance of European qualification.

Reports had suggested that returning the club to Europe is the minimum expectation if Pochettino is to see the second season of his two-year contract.

But after a creditable draw with Champions League-chasing Aston Villa and excellent home wins against London rivals Tottenham and West Ham – the second of which was a 5-0 procession – Boehly indicated his satisfaction that they are at last living up to the expectations set by a more than £1billion transfer spend.

“We’ve seen, over the last two and a half games at least – the second half of Aston Villa, Tottenham and West Ham – where we played just beautiful football,” he said. “It was so fluid. It was exactly the way we drew it up.

“The number of shots we had on goal in those two and a half games, you could really start to see what we were working on coming together. Our goal is obviously to win.

“And the commentary has changed over the last two and a half games. I’ve never seen anything change so quickly than prospective on how a team does.”

Chelsea play Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday looking to leapfrog Newcastle into sixth, the last spot that is guaranteed a place in Europe next season, before travelling to Brighton next week and finishing up at home to Bournemouth.