Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has likened his players to lemons in an unusual analogy as he calls for time to make things work at Stamford Bridge.
Despite a huge outlay over the past year, the Blues have been blighted by injuries at the beginning of this season and have made their second-worst start to a campaign in the Premier League era.
Pochettino's side have just five points from their opening five fixtures in the competition in 2023/24 and their only win came at home to promoted side Luton Town.
Chelsea have also been struggling for goals so far, with just five scored in as many games and three of those came against Luton.
"Give time – give time to the lemons," Pochettino said on Friday. "It is not a joke because if you want to have good energy you need to implement all the things that you personally believe.
"I believe in the lemons but at Tottenham they started to work after one-and-a-half, two years. They need a long time, they are not magic but more than ever I still believe in them.
"Today in my office I have yellow ones, green ones – different types. From Spain, from Italy. I don’t want to lie, there is a big box of lemons.
And he added: "For me I always thought the yellow lemons worked much better than the green but now I believe in any colour – any colour can help. If I could get a blue lemon it would be even better!"
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