Football: Soccer-Broja can be important for Chelsea in Jackson’s absence – Pochettino

LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea need Armando Broja to step up and replace their top scorer Nicolas Jackson who is now with the Senegal squad at the Africa Cup of Nations, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday.

Pochettino has been dealing with a number of injury problems and French striker Christopher Nkunku is still not fully fit to start matches.

“Armando has the possibility to be more involved as he is one of our main strikers,” Pochettino told reporters ahead of their FA Cup third-round match against second-tier Preston North End.

“Armando, it’s a possibility to play for him… Christoph (Nkunku) is not going to start tomorrow as he suffered issues during the week, but he is going to be in the squad. We need to be careful with him.”

Pochettino said Chelsea are very focused on the domestic Cups this season as they are not involved in European competition and languishing 10th in the Premier League.

The London side have won the FA Cup eight times with 16 appearances in the final, the most recent in 2022 when they lost to Liverpool on penalties.

Chelsea are also through to the League Cup semi-finals where they play Middlesbrough.

“The Carabao (League) Cup and the FA Cup are two competitions that we need to try to go further… But we need to do our run step-by-step. The first step is tomorrow,” Pochettino said.

“Of course, it’s a really important competition for us because we are not involved in the European competitions. In the Premier League, we are in a position that we need to grow and improve at if we want to play in the competition.

“Through the FA Cup (and) Carabao Cup, we can achieve to play next season in Europe. It’s really important because we had, from the beginning, three competitions and we are still in three competitions. We want to be in the three competitions.”

Pochettino said he would not make too many changes against Preston.

“We need to anticipate problems. We take (this game) like a Premier League game, it’s not because it’s the FA Cup,” he said.

Pochettino said he was not sure if Conor Gallagher would stay at the club with the English midfielder having 18 months left on his contract.

“I cannot guarantee that I am going to be here tomorrow. In football with us, it’s different… It’s between the club and the player, only the player or the club can guarantee,” he said.

(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)