Mauricio Pochettino was pleased to see his Chelsea players ‘doing everything to keep the three points’ in the final stages of their 1-0 Premier League victory over Fulham at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.
The Blues controlled the opening period of the Premier League fixture but appeared to be heading into the interval level.
That was until a moment of trickery from Raheem Sterling led to Issa Diop bringing down the winger and a penalty being awarded.
Cole Palmer stepped up and – as has been the case throughout his early Chelsea career – was nerveless from the spot. He went left. Bernd Leno went right. And the Blues went on to secure victory despite late pressure from the visitors.
“I think in the second half, we started really well. I think we played really good football for 30 minutes and should have scored another goal or two to kill the game,” said Pochettino.
“But when you don’t and the game is open, and always in the last minutes you can concede a few actions: set-pieces, wide free-kicks, corners.
“They had good potential from these situations but we defended well and I think it was good for us to suffer a little bit in the end as I think this type of game helps us grow and builds confidence in the way we are working.”
