Pochettino makes stance on Chelsea job clear as pressure mounts on Graham Potter

Mauricio Pochettino is on stand-by to take over as Chelsea manager should Graham Potter be axed from his post in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.

The former Tottenham boss has been out of work since he was sacked by Paris Saint-Germain last summer and has been touted as the perfect successor to Potter if he falls short of expectations in West London. The ex-Brighton boss is under increasing pressure amid Chelsea's terrible run of form, with the Blues having lost five out of their last seven and eliminated from both domestic cup competitions.

Last Sunday's 4-0 defeat by Manchester City was undoubtedly Potter's lowest point as Chelsea boss so far, with the travelling Blues faithful turning on their manager and chanting for his predecessor Thomas Tuchel.

According to the Sun, Pochettino is more than willing to take the reins at Stamford Bridge - despite the fact he spent six years at the helm of Chelsea's fierce London rivals Tottenham.

The Argentine has an affinity for the capital and kept his home in London even after he departed Spurs in late-2019.

The aforementioned report also claims that those at the top of the Chelsea hierarchy have already discussed the idea of replacing Potter with Pochettino.

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With that being said, Potter is expected to be given until the end of the January transfer window at the very least to turn things around.

The 47-year-old has overseen just two victories since early November, one of which came in the Champions League group stage.

Potter has since discussed the disastrous run of form, claiming: "In terms of the Premier League, we have lost four matches - to Newcastle away, when we had nine players unavailable, we lost 1-0 to Arsenal, we lost on a bad day to Brighton and we lost to Manchester City.

"We have also drawn to Manchester United and Brentford so the results in a small space of time aren't positive.

"You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn't good enough. Both of those answers are correct.

"We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it's not nice at all. But that's where we are at the moment."

Up next for Chelsea is the small matter of a West London derby as they make the trip to Craven Cottage on Wednesday night finding themselves in the rare situation of being three places below local rivals Fulham.