Joe Cole names problem Mauricio Pochettino must fix at Chelsea

Chelsea favourite Joe Cole has urged Mauricio Pochettino to find a solution to the club's ongoing injury crisis.

Fitness issues have plagued Chelsea all season, with big players like Christopher Nkunku, Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia all missing enormous periods, while the number of setbacks suffered by returning players has also left fans searching for answers.

Many have blamed Pochettino himself for the injury crisis but the Chelsea boss has insisted he has never seen anything quite like the current fitness bug which has ravaged his squad all season. For Cole, fixing that should be Pochettino's top priority.

"The thing I'd like to figure out what's going on at Chelsea this season is why we are getting so many players break down," he told 90min in association with TNT Sports. "I understand things happen in football, players get injured, and there can be an element of luck to it, but I also think when it's happened like it's happened...

"It's not the physios. It's not the sports scientists and it's not the coaches. It's like making a recipe, everything goes into getting your players right and on the pitch at the right time.

"If you could figure that out and take the injuries down by 50% - I don't know how you'd do it but there must be people out there who are experts in it - that's the one thing I'd like to figure out both for Mauricio and for Chelsea. If he had Nkunku, Reece James, [Ben] Chilwell, Fofana and Lavia, it could look like a very different season.

"If he can figure out one problem, I think that's the problem to figure out at Chelsea."

Ahead of Tuesday's meeting with an Arsenal side that has avoided such significant injury issues, Pochettino admitted the Gunners are evidence of what can happen with a settled team.

"Being consistent is to have all of the players fit or a higher percentage during the season," he said. "To increase the possibility of players available is going to be a challenge for next season.

"Being consistent is having all of the players fighting for a place on the pitch. Days like today or yesterday when you train. It's true that we didn't have the possibility during the whole season, for different circumstances, to have all of the squad available to create this way to compete.

"We cannot complain, this happens in football and we need to accept it. I repeat again, to match the history of the club is difficult but if we can split the team, the evolution and all of the circumstances, I think we are doing well."

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