Chelsea will target a set-piece specialist in the summer transfer window as Mauricio Pochettino claims the Blues’ struggles are ‘not down to the work’ on the training ground…before lauding the impact of James Ward-Prowse at West Ham

Chelsea will target a set-piece specialist in the summer’s transfer window with Mauricio Pochettino citing the impact of his former player James Ward-Prowse at West Ham.

Pochettino feels his team are lacking a ‘taker’ for such scenarios, saying Ben Chilwell is the closest they have as they bid to bounce back from their 4-1 loss at Liverpool when Wolves visit on Saturday.

‘We work a lot on set-pieces,’ said Pochettino, whose side sit 10th in the Premier League. ‘After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don’t have a specialist. If you want to be good in set-pieces, we work a lot. But then you need good takers.’

This week saw Manchester City credit Carlos Vicens for the goal scored by Julian Alvarez and assisted by Kevin De Bruyne against Burnley. 

Chelsea are one of a shrinking number of Premier League clubs who do not have a dedicated set-piece specialist on their coaching staff, but Pochettino insisted on Friday that is not the problem.

The Chelsea boss cited the impact of his former player James Ward-Prowse at West Ham 

‘It is not down to the work,’ Pochettino said. ‘We work similar. But the problem is to have good takers. We were talking about trying to find for next season a good specialist.

‘Look at West Ham. What changed? After and before? It’s not the same. The taker is Ward-Prowse. You add a player like him, you increase the percentage. That is football. Football belongs to the players. Not to the specialist (coaches).’

Five of Chelsea’s 36 Premier League goals this season have come from set-pieces, with Pochettino working on improving their scoring threat.

Though they let Armando Broja leave on loan to Fulham without signing a striker in January, Pochettino insists he has enough options up front with Nicolas Jackson in contention to feature against Wolves after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.