Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino unsure over Stamford Bridge future

Mauricio Pochettino dined with Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly in the days before Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Bournemouth that secured European football, but admitted it left him no nearer to knowing his Stamford Bridge future.

The Argentinian had been due to meet with the club hierarchy following the conclusion to the season to dissect progress at the end of his debut campaign, but after watching his team secure a sixth-place finish in part thanks to a superb halfway-line goal from Moises Caicedo, he said he did not know whether the summit will take place.

Whatever judgement is placed on the 52-year-old by his bosses as the curtain comes down on a tumultuous year, it will surely be boosted by him returning the club to Europe after a season away, with the only jeopardy now whether an FA Cup final victory for Manchester United over City on May 25 will drop them from the Europa League into the Conference League.

“I don’t know if (the meeting) is going to happen or not,” he said. “On Friday night Todd invited me for dinner. It was a very nice dinner together.

“I don’t know about the rumours about the review. My staff tomorrow are flying (on holiday). Maybe tonight if (club bosses) decide another thing or tell us to stay, (otherwise) they’ll go for a holiday.

“I’m going to stay a few days more in London. My door is always open and my phone is going to be on.”

Sill, he hinted that the meal he shared with Boehly on Friday was broadly positive.

“If I invite you alone, and you and me have a dinner, it’s not for a bad thing. If I need to tell you something, I call to go for a coffee, not for a dinner.”

The win over the Cherries was a fifth in a row in the league and further emphasised the progress that is being made by a young squad under Pochettino’s leadership.

Raheem Sterling added to Caicedo’s wonder strike shortly after half-time, and though the visitors pulled one back, Enes Unal’s strike deflecting in for an own-goal off Benoit Badiashile, Chelsea hung on.

“Always you can improve,” said Pochettino. “They’re going to be much better next season. They’re going to have one year experience, tough experience. That’s the advantage of being solid and consistent and not too many changes.

“If next season we keep 80, 85 per cent of the squad, for sure it’s a big step forward. It’s about having continuity in the ideas, and the knowledge between (the players).”

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, whose team finished with a club-record point tally in the Premier League, reflected on a game that he felt his team might have drawn were it nor for some wasteful finishing.

“I finish happy with the performance, maybe not with the result,” he said. “We cannot ask much more of the players. We finished the game stronger than them, but we miss some clinical (finishing) in the opposition box.

“You have to appreciate (Caicedo’s goal). It was not easy to score that goal and I have to give credit to Caicedo.”