Mauricio Pochettino insists Chelsea’s project WILL succeed despite just one win from their first six games leaving the Blues down in 14th in the Premier League

Mauricio Pochettino has promised that Chelsea’s project will prosper in time as they host Brighton — the club whose top talents they stripped in a bid to buy success — in the Carabao Cup.

There are similarities between Brighton and Chelsea’s models, with one major exception. Brighton target young players with potential, such as £4.5million Moises Caicedo in 2021, but Chelsea pick up young players with hefty price tags, signing Caicedo for £115m last month.

Chelsea are a lowly 14th in the Premier League with just one win from their first six games.

Some top-flight bosses send out their assistants to conduct press conferences in the Carabao Cup but Pochettino fronted up as he insisted ‘the plan’ will succeed.

‘It is less hard than when we were at Southampton and Tottenham, trust me,’ he said. ‘We are doing much better here but we are missing the most important thing in football: scoring.’

On why it was harder at Spurs, Pochettino said: ‘We were working to change and design the strategy. Here, the plan was already made.

‘I believe. I really believe. It’s about having patience and trying to recover all the injured players. If you see the squad, it has very good balance.

‘Everyone can say that the plan is not right, but I really believe in the project. We only need time to change that perception because we are going to change that perception.’

Pochettino is trying to build his players’ confidence, citing one example. He said: ‘With Mykhailo Mudryk, I like to play hitting the crossbar from outside the box. He said to me today, ‘No, I’m not going to play any more because always you win’.

‘I said, ‘Yes, because I have the belief. The balance between belief and quality I know very well because I am 50 years old and you are still young. You need to still know yourself.’ Today was the first time that we drew.’

Pochettino was asked if £32m forward Nicolas Jackson, who will miss Monday’s Premier League game at Fulham after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season, had been fined for his lack of discipline.

He said: ‘Not really. Not in the way you maybe think. It’s not money. It’s private. I don’t like to talk about money with players. But in a different way, of course.’

Pochettino has seen his side win just one of their first six games in the Premier League