Pochettino Frustrated by Chelsea’s Inconsistency After Thrashing at Arsenal 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
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Pochettino Frustrated by Chelsea’s Inconsistency After Thrashing at Arsenal 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino looks dejected after the match. (Reuters)

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was left frustrated by his team's inconsistency after their 5-0 thrashing at Arsenal in the Premier League on Tuesday, which came just days after they pushed Manchester City hard in a tight FA Cup semi-final loss.

Leandro Trossard opened the scoring at the Emirates before Ben White and former Chelsea player Kai Havertz both scored twice in the second half to seal the north London club's biggest-ever win in the fixture.

The defeat came after Chelsea had gone eight matches unbeaten in the league, and dealt a blow to their hopes of claiming a European place next season.

"When we have bad days, we are so bad. When we are good, we are capable of everything," Pochettino told reporters.

"We cannot blame the players, I'm not going to blame the players. We cannot blame young guys who came here and after suffering some circumstances, come here to fight against a team preparing to win the Premier League.

"It is true we are disappointed with our performance, but I am not going to say something which is unfair to describe our team, our players, our squad."

Chelsea next face a trip to fourth-placed Aston Villa on Saturday, before hosting fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur on May 2.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.