Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has revealed why he keeps lemons in his office.

“They started to work after two years at Tottenham,” said Pochettino. “Give time to the lemons. It is a thing that we all believe. If you want to have good energy you need to implement all the things that you believe.

“I believe in the lemons but at Tottenham they started to work after one and a half, two years. They need a long time, they are not magic, but more than ever I still believe in them.

“Today in my office I have yellow ones, green ones, different types. From Spain, from Italy. I don’t want to lie, there is a big box of lemons. I always thought the yellow lemons worked much better than the green but now I believe in any colour – any colour can help. If I could get a blue lemon it would be even better.”

On whether the green lemons in his box are in fact limes, he said: “A lime is not a lemon. It is a brother, maybe with a different mother or different father.”