Mauricio Pochettino admits Conor Gallagher’s Chelsea future is out of his hands

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was unable to provide any guarantees over the future of Conor Gallagher after Thursday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham.

Gallagher again wore the captain’s armband and starred with his free-kick able to set up Trevor Chalobah’s 24th-minute opener.

Before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, home fans unveiled a banner in support of academy graduate Gallagher, which carried the words ‘Chelsea since birth’ alongside an image of the midfielder.

Even though Gallagher has established himself as a key figure under Pochettino with six goals alongside nine assists in 46 appearances this season, speculation over his future continues.

In July, Gallagher will enter the final 12 months of his deal and Spurs have been mooted as a potential destination after they pushed to sign the 24-year-old last summer.

“I am not involved. I don’t know nothing,” Pochettino admitted.

“I think you can see in my starting XI that the whole season he was always there. With all the circumstances, he was always there.

“Yes, he is an important player, of course but I am not involved in the decision. It is the club and Conor.

“That is a situation they need to fix between the club and the player.”

Pochettino added: “When we talk about the identity of the club, some players that grow at the club come through the academy system, I think they have the capacity in this type of game to give a little bit more.

“They were fantastic, the whole team were fantastic, but of course Conor and Trevor were amazing.”

By contrast it was a sombre evening for Tottenham after they suffered a third consecutive defeat to almost certainly end their top-four hopes.

Spurs have a game in hand on fourth-placed Aston Villa, but are seven points behind Unai Emery’s team and face a daunting trip to Anfield on Sunday.

Dutch defender Micky van de Ven cut a frustrated figure at full-time, and told SpursPlay: “Bad performance from the team. We didn’t play well, didn’t create enough and didn’t play our football.

“We didn’t really create the opportunities we normally create in a game. Normally we are pushing forward, crosses into the box and we’re there, but the opportunities were there and we didn’t grab them.

“Of course it is a difficult situation right now and we lost now two big games in a row. It is unacceptable also how it happens.

“Yeah, it’s important to keep our head up high now. That’s the most important for us because if everybody puts their head down, it will not be a good end to the season.”