The Blues suffered our second defeat of the campaign at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, drawing a blank despite dominating possession and territory against dogged opposition.

Pochettino knows there is so much room for improvement, not least in the final third, but he is confident the rebuilding project he is overseeing at Stamford Bridge will prove successful.

‘A process like this is always up and down,’ he said.

‘We have a very young squad. From our side, it is about the time to work and to improve the players and to create the best platform.

‘Of course we need to be more clinical in front of goal. It is a situation we need to improve on, to work really hard on. We need to prove we can score.

‘You cannot accelerate the process, but in time, this squad can be really good and very competitive.’

Our best opening on Saturday fell to Nicolas Jackson towards the end of the second half, but unfortunately the Senegalese striker couldn’t direct his close-range effort on target.

Pochettino explained why he is not concerned by that miss and remains confident Jackson is the man to lead the Chelsea attack.

‘He needs time,' added the head coach. 'He needs to adapt to the Premier League. He is doing a fantastic job but scoring is not easy.

'Sometimes he is a little bit rushed in his decisions but it’s only about settling his nerves and being more calm and more relaxed.

‘In the future he will score this type of chance when he is relaxed and not rushed, and feels settled in the team and the Premier League. For sure he is going to score goals.’