A young Chelsea fan delivered a damning assessment of their players by holding up a sign telling them that he doesn’t want their shirts, on a night where Chelsea were humiliated 5-0 by London rivals Arsenal.
Premier League leaders Arsenal ran rampant with former Chelsea star Kai Havertz and Ben White both bagging themselves a brace, after Leandro Trossard had opened the scoring four minutes into the game.
During the contest, the supporter held up the sign with pictures of the Chelsea kit, which read: ‘I don’t want your shirt!! ‘I want you to want to fight for ours. UTC (Up the Chelsea).
Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher was asked about the sign during his post-match press conference.
Responding to a question about the sign suggesting that Chelsea players don’t work hard enough, he said: ‘Well we are definitely putting the effort in.
A young Chelsea fan held up a sign telling players he didn’t want their shirts and instead told them to fight for the kit – a damning assessment during a heavy 5-0 loss to Arsenal
Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher defended his side in response to a question about the sign insisting his team-mates are ‘definitely putting the effort in’ despite the disappointing loss
‘I know how much it means to all the boys, I know it’s been said many times, it’s a very young squad with not much experience as a team in the Premier League.
‘We have had a lots of ups and downs and we are still improving and working together as a team to get to the next level.
‘Today was one of those days that we were nowhere near it.
‘We need to dust ourselves off and also look at the performance and where we can improve and all the mistakes where we can put it right and move onto the next one.’
The sign also caught the attention of Chelsea fans on social media.
One said: ‘The sign held by a fan at tonight’s game says it all… FIGHT FOR THE SHIRT!’
Gallagher admitted that Chelsea’s players were ‘nowhere near it’ against the Gunners
Another commented: ‘That sign the kid was holding broke me even more. Hang your heads in shame Chelsea.’
While a third suggested that Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino should nail the sign to the dressing room wall.’
Pochettino himself joined the young fan in venting his fury as he accused his players of ‘giving up’ at the Emirates.
He said: ‘We talked at half-time about how it is not possible to start the game like this. But we started in a bad way again. We conceded two goals and in this moment, the team gave up. We were not in the game.
‘It is impossible to see Saturday at Wembley, a fantastic performance, competing really well against Manchester City, one of the best in the world, and then today. You can lose a game, and Arsenal are fighting for the Premier League, but the way we competed three days ago and today, there is no excuse.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were outclassed by the Premier League leaders on Tuesday night
‘Three days ago, fantastic game, great performance, deserved to go to the final. Today, you can use any words to describe our performance. Our standards are not sustained for the bad days. When we have bad days, we are so bad. When we are good, we are capable of everything.’
It caps off a disappointing couple of days for the Blues who lost 1-0 to Manchester City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, after squandering plenty of opportunities during the match.
Cole Palmer scored four for Chelsea in a 6-0 win over Everton, but even that was perhaps overshadowed after Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson argued that they should take a penalty ahead of the England international – who is the Blues’ designated penalty taker.
The heavy defeat by Arsenal leaves Chelsea ninth in the standings, though they are still just three points off sixth placed Newcastle with six games left to play.
