Pochettino keeps a bowl of lemons in his office to absorb negative energy. He was asked when Chelsea will start to feel the benefits. “They started to work after two years at Tottenham,” Pochettino said. “Give time to the lemons. It is a thing that we all believe. If you want to have good energy you need to implement all the things that you 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. 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.” A debate broke out over whether a green lemon is actually a lime. Pochettino said: “A lime is not a lemon. It is a brother, maybe with a different mother or different father.”