December 26th 2023.
Mauricio Pochettino will be without Cole Palmer for Chelsea's game against Crystal Palace, after the youngster collected five yellow cards for the season and was handed a one-match suspension. Despite the team being the Premier League team with the most yellow cards this season, Pochettino refused to accept it was due to a lack of discipline.
Raheem Sterling also saw yellow for simulation when he sought a penalty in stoppage time, as Chelsea chased what would have been an undeserved equaliser against Gary O'Neil's side. Injuries have been another contributing factor to the team's struggles, with at least eight players unfit for the Palace game. This has prevented the manager from using all of his players at the same time, leading to "up and down" results.
Pochettino believes the players are simply acting rashly due to frustration and a lack of experience. He stated, "When you are frustrated, and you don't have maybe the experience of other teams, you make a mistake." He pointed to Cole Palmer as an example, as the youngster is only in his first season as a regular.
The suspensions of Reece James, Malo Gusto, Conor Gallagher, and Nicolas Jackson have only added to Chelsea's woes. Jackson is only two bookings short of 10 for the campaign, and if he collects two more, he will face a further two-match ban.
Pochettino remains focused on recovering his players and fixing the many issues the team has been faced with this season. He concluded, "If you're going to see the squad for the next game, you're going to see more than eight first-team players. That is why sometimes we've been up and down in our results."
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