Chelsea ended the 2023/24 season with a 2-1 win against Bournemouth to guarantee we will play European football next season.

Once the final whistle had been blown, the players made a guard of honour for the departing Thiago Silva before all congregating around the centre circle as the iconic defender addressed the crowd.

After the Brazilian’s heartfelt speech, the players spent time talking and embracing other members of the squad and the staff, as a season which has seen us show top-four form following the first ten games of the campaign ended.

Pochettino said: ‘I am so pleased and so proud of the players because you can see at the end of the game, players who have played more, players who have played less, players who were injured, the way they came to hug me, I think it was very nice, talking about the relationships that we have, where sometimes we are tough with them and sometimes we make our choices but we feel so proud in the way they have the right idea and the way they are working.

‘Even in tough moments during the season, they always show respect to us and the belief in the way we present in our job and the way we work.’

Chelsea made it five consecutive victories against Bournemouth, as Moises Caicedo scored from just inside the opposition half and Raheem Sterling grabbed his tenth goal of the season.

Only Premier League champions Manchester City and runners-up Arsenal have won more games than Chelsea in recent months despite an injury record which at times stood at 14 first team players.

Pochettino said: ‘I am happy for my staff and for my players. I am really happy because in this process of nearly ten months, with the difficult circumstances [we have faced], the way they have tried to increase our levels and our standards, they deserve full credit.

‘Also for the staff because the staff was fighting every single day to coach the players and provide the best tools for them to perform.

‘The last 27 or 28 games, the way that we have performed, we need to feel proud about that.’

Chelsea’s continual improvement in recent months has seen us climb above the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle United into sixth position, only three points below Tottenham Hotspur in fifth and five points off Aston Villa in the Champions League places.

However, Pochettino stressed: ‘We are not going to celebrate [finishing sixth] because we know the history of Chelsea. But this is the first step to achieving bigger things after that.’

When asked about the next steps, he added: ‘We have already built and consolidated the basis, and from there, we have to improve.

‘We have a squad that is young but they are now more experienced in the Premier League and we now have to be better next season.’