If Mauricio Pochettino could have scripted a redemption game, it would have gone something like this. Everything the Chelsea manager touched turned to gold as his Carabao Cup finalists waltzed into the last 16 of the FA Cup, responding to two four-goal concessions in the Premier League by outplaying Aston Villa to secure a home tie with Championship opponents Leeds United.
Pochettino reacted to the farrago over Thiago Silva’s wife hinting on X that the manager should be dismissed by leaving out his classiest, if oldest, defender and then reintroducing him for the final minutes of a valedictory night.
