Mauricio Pochettino advises Chelsea players to avoid giving Everton free-kicks and corners
Mauricio Pochettino has advised his players to mitigate Everton’s threat from the set pieces as they set to make a trip to face the Toffees on Sunday.
The Argentine manager wants his players to avoid giving Everton cheap freekicks or corners, as Sean Dyche’s side is statistically the tallest team in the top flight, boasting an average height of 1.85 metres per player.
Meanwhile, the Blues are the second-shortest side in the Premier League with an average height of 1.78m per player, which Everton will look to take advantage of on Sunday.
The Toffees were handed a 10-point deduction by the Premier League, which saw them drop to the relegation zone, but the club has recovered well and are now in 17th place.
When they play Chelsea, Dyche would want his team to climb higher up the standings and put an end to the relegation concern. However, Pochettino is hoping his team recovers from their 2-1 loss to Manchester United and has instructed his players not to give anything away to Everton during the match, (h/t Mirror), as he said:
“It can be a problem, but we need to be more aggressive, and we need to avoid conceding chances by corners and giving away free kicks.”
“We need to be clever in the way that we are going to work and try to stop them. But yes, it can be a problem, but maybe not. You never know because in football, it’s about the way you approach the game with your attitude and being clever. It’s about stopping the opponent from using their strengths.”
We can expect this game to be unpleasant because Everton are also the most physically dominant team after Newcastle. This will be a major worry for us because we were overpowered by the Magpies. We will have to deal with the intensity and their home environment because the Toffees will play with great resolve until the final whistle since they are fighting for relegation.
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Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi are physically strong players who can completely negate Everton’s chances from set pieces, but it remains to be seen which centre-back combination the Argentine boss will use.