Pochettino's assistant aims dig at former club Tottenham ahead of Chelsea clash
Jesus Perez showed his daughters have ditched Spurs for Chelsea after the coach followed ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino to Stamford Bridge.
Perez, who served as Pochettino's number two in North London, worked under the Argentine at Paris Saint-Germain after leaving Spurs. He is also part of the head coach's staff in west London, with Pochettino and Perez returning to their old stomping ground for a derby on Monday night.
The Chelsea number two shared a photo of his children in Spurs shirts from a few years ago, alongside one of them more recently wearing Chelsea blue. "Love is colour blind," the caption read.
Pochettino left Tottenham early in the 2019-20 season, a few short months after his team reached the Champions League final. After a short stint as Paris Saint-Germain, albeit one which saw him win Ligue 1 in 2021-22, he took over at Chelsea over the summer.
So far, things haven't been going swimmingly for the Argentine. Long-term injuries for Wesley Fofana and Christopher Nkunku on the eve of the season harmed Chelsea's preparations, and the go into Monday's game sitting in the bottom half of the table.
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In contrast, Spurs have enjoyed a dream start under new boss Ange Postecoglou. They hold the Premier League's only remaining unbeaten record after Arsenal lost to Newcastle on Saturday, and will return to the top of the table if they can claim victory over Chelsea.
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Jesus Perez and Mauricio Pochettino are due to return to former club Spurs with Chelsea (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)Perez was shown a red card in Chelsea's last game, a 2-0 home defeat against Brentford. The Bees punished their West London neighbours for failing to take their chances, with Ethan Pinnock opening the scoring and Bryan Mbeumo adding a late second.
Speaking to the media in the build-up to Monday's match Pochettino suggested the demands for immediate results at Chelsea make his task tougher than when he succeeded Tim Sherwood at Spurs. "Again, it is difficult to compare because when we arrived it was a year before that [Luka] Modric and [Gareth] Bale left," the 51-year-old said.
"They spent a lot of money signing players [to replace them] and then started a young project with Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and Heung-min Son. Here, this beginning is tougher, because with this young team, it is harder to find a way to perform.
"We are putting pressure on the young guys to perform right away. At Spurs, experienced players were there and then we decided to move [them out] but the young guys were there working for a few months, four or five months to understand our way of working.
"Then, after a few months, players like Harry Kane started to play. Okay, that's why it is different and difficult to compare. For sure, Chelsea is an exciting project and we are going to find a way to get results.
"Performances are good but what we are missing is translating that to a positive result." Pochettino also said he is hopeful a win for Chelsea against Tottenham will be the "trigger" to help his side "grow quicker".
"It's a process but I hope it will be the game that will help us to grow quicker," he added. "Sometimes it is one game, one performance, one result or one goal that can help be the trigger to change and complete things."
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