Mauricio Pochettino has previewed Chelsea's first game of the Premier League season against Liverpool after setting out the club's objectives for the 2023/24 campaign. The Blues finished 12th last term - a massive 45 points behind eventual champions Manchester City.
Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson have arrived at Stamford Bridge as Pochettino looks to bolster his attacking options following Kai Havertz's move to Arsenal. Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly and N'Golo Kante have also left the club as part of a major overhaul of the squad.
The Blues begin their first season under Pochettino against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, August 13. The Reds had a poor season under Jurgen Klopp last term but still managed to rescue Europa League qualification with a fifth placed finish.
Liverpool have added Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai to their ranks already this summer as Klopp looks to reshape his midfield and get back to challenging for the Premier League title. Pochettino has now previewed his first Premier League game in charge and set out clear objectives for his debut season.
In his first interview as Chelsea boss, the Argentine is excited to experience the home support and atmosphere at Stamford Bridge despite predicting a difficult test for his side. "It’s going to be exciting but while it’s close, it’s also still far away," Pochettino said.
"First, we need to meet the players, start work, then the tour in America, which is going to be unbelievable to meet all the fans. We will be ready for the first game against Liverpool – and it is going to be so exciting to have the first Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.
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"We will face a team that’s very good in Liverpool, I know very well from the past. Now it’s important to visualise ourselves at Stamford Bridge.
"We know very well the stadium and we know with the fans we will create a good atmosphere. The objective is to win because football is about winning.
"We will have good times, create good relationships, have a nice environment and relationship with people, but the most important thing in the end is to win. If you win, it helps develop all the other things.
"Football is about results, how you achieve that is different because we are people that care about the way we achieve the results. But in the end, we want to win, be competitive, be animals that want to compete every week and in every game.
"But we need to translate before on the training ground and to train in this way. We need to be really tough to try to create that mentality and the feeling that we can beat anyone."
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