Chelsea’s season—as well as the potential future of manager Mauricio Pochettino—is at stake when they play second-tier Leeds United in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.

Pochettino was denied his first piece of trophy in English football and the kind of momentous victory that could have launched his career due to Liverpool’s close loss in Sunday’s League Cup final.

Chelsea’s poor season is currently in jeopardy, and losing against Leeds would not help their situation, as attacker Christopher Nkunku is sidelined once more due to his recurring injury problems.

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Just when it seemed like the Argentine could have the answer to the Stamford Bridge riddle, defeat by an injured Liverpool team has once again brought Pochettino under scrutiny.

Losing to Leeds would be extremely detrimental to the former Tottenham Hotspur manager, who was questioned by reporters on Tuesday, given that his team is in the bottom half of the Premier League and has a slim chance of qualifying for Europe.

“Of course we are so disappointed, Chelsea is about winning,” Pochettino said of the 1-0 loss at Wembley.

“Liverpool spent four years, (Juergen) Klopp didn’t win a title but got the support from the club. Now they are getting what they deserve because of that.

“For us, after seven or eight months, to get to the final is a massive achievement in this project.”

After the final, Pochettino claimed to have received a “nice message” from the club’s American chairman Todd Boehly.

When questioned if the project was successful, Pochettino responded, “It depends on how you look at it.”

“We are in a good way, in the moment, in the process, that is normal to be,” he said.

“Then you can call (it) ‘successful’, no? Being in a final and losing? Maybe you can say it’s disastrous. That depends on how you judge.”

There’s no doubt that Leeds, who have won nine straight Championship games to take second place in the rankings, would punish any Chelsea hangover.

“Now we need to keep the spirit up and of course move on and be ready for tomorrow,” Pochettino said.

“We want to go to the end (of the FA Cup) and we have a very good opponent in front (of us) in Leeds. We need to be strong, have energy.

“The players want to be there, to be involved and to show that we are in a way that is going to be good for the team.”

Pochettino commented, “We need to see and evaluate every day but he’s out for three or four weeks,” about Nkunku’s condition.

“We hope no more. It’s difficult for him.

“We watched him when he arrived in pre-season.

“He was flying on the training pitch until he got injured.

“Now it is nearly eight months and he has been involved again but he is not the same player as before.”