The Blues drew 2-2 with relegation-threatened Sheffield United on Sunday (07.04.24) - just three days after a remarkable 4-3 win over Manchester United - and the coach doesn't consider tiredness to be an excuse for his underperforming players.

Pochettino said: "It is about being able to compete. For different reasons we are struggling to compete in these type of games [against lesser teams].

"Watching football at 52 years old, you identify very quick when the team is ready to compete.

"Maybe [it is] because this group is not mature enough to compete in games every three days."

Pochettino cites the inexperience of the Chelsea players as the main reason for their patchy results and thinks it could take "three or five years" before the side are capable of competing at the top of English football once more.

The Argentine coach said: "It is a new team with profiles in the squad that we are learning. That is why the process to build a team always takes time. It is not a magic thing [clicks fingers].

"When we talk about projects, we talk about three or five years. It is a normal process but we are working to fix this type of problem.

"When we arrive at the end of the season, we need to analyse the squad to see what we are missing and try to add people with the capacity to provide [solutions for] what we are seeing today."