Pochettino updates on Enzo Fernandez fitness and outlines City focus

Mauricio Pochettino says Enzo Fernandez has trained well ahead of our FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City and will be in the squad for the clash at Wembley.

The 23-year-old was absent on Monday evening as the Blues defeated Everton 6-0 at Stamford Bridge. Yet Enzo was back in training on Wednesday evening and has been involved in our pre-match preparations.

‘He has trained really well the last few days and is going to be part of the squad tomorrow,’ explained Pochettino. ‘We always assess him day by day and we need to protect him because he is a young guy who is important for the present and for the future.

‘The most important thing is he needs to be ready to perform at his best. We don’t want heroes [who play injured], we want players who can perform in their best way to help the team achieve what we want.’

Following our victory over Everton, the Blues were afforded a day off by Pochettino and his staff. They returned to Cobham on Tuesday and have spent the past three days working hard on the grass at Cobham.

Manchester City, in contrast, were in action on Wednesday evening in the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side were taken to extra time and then penalties by Real Madrid, who won the shootout to progress to the semi-finals.

There has been much pre-match discussion about how that result – and playing more than 120 minutes – will affect City. However, Pochettino insists he and his players are prepared to face the best version of the Premier League champions.

‘The good example is Liverpool [in the Carabao Cup final],’ he said. ‘All the people were talking about their injured players and having young kids. Look what happened?

‘From our point of view, we’re not talking about that. We are going to compete against Manchester City. Today, we were preparing in meetings and practice focused on the Manchester City who played against Real Madrid and who played against us twice in the Premier League.

‘We are not talking about if Pep plays one player or another. The strength of Manchester City is they keep the same idea and philosophy and they are going to try to do the same [at Wembley].’

Pochettino added: ‘I understand the situation is tough for them to play 120 minutes in the Champions League, emotionally you expend big energy.

‘It’s about how they recover now and, of course, they are going to be competitive. They are going to put out high-level players who will have full energy to try to win the game.’