Under fire Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino reveals message to squad ahead of Aston Villa clash

Mauricio Pochettino has warned that his Chelsea players will be 'ready' to face Aston Villa on Wednesday night. The Blues have struggled since drawing with Villa in the initial fourth round tie between the two clubs.

Chelsea have lost back-to-back games, conceding eight goals along the way, and pressure is building on Pochettino with his team now sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League. The story is very different for Villa, who are competing for a top four spot amid a superb season so far.

But while the two sides are putting together very different campaigns so far, they played out a very even draw in the initial tie at Stamford Bridge, and it will be interesting to see whether the Villa Park clash will play out the same way. One thing that will not be the same, according to Chelsea boss Pochettino, are the circumstances surrounding the replay.

"It’s true that we played well in the game here at Stamford Bridge," said Pochettino in his press conference. "After that, there have been different circumstances – and we will have one day fewer to prepare the game, as they played on Saturday and we played on Sunday.

"So, the circumstances we arrive to the game in are completely different, but that is football. We cannot change the past, only we can affect the future. We have talked to the players today about being ready to compete tomorrow. We are going to pay attention to situations that happened in the last two games for them and for us.

"We need to improve and we will assess our players. Tomorrow I will decide the team because it’s important to assess how the players are recovering and, normally, we will do some changes tomorrow."