Chelsea hero Gus Poyet says the poor form of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez is understandable.

Poyet insists it's a symptom of the instability at Chelsea.

He told The Sun: "The signings of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo were both big calls. I call these types of transfers 'in fashion' where it seems to be the popular thing to spend lots of money on a specific position.

"We have seen it happen with goalkeepers, centre-backs and striker, now the trend is paying £100m for a central midfielder; we have seen this with Declan Rice [at Arsenal], Caicedo and Fernandez. It seems to be in fashion and I don't like that in football.

"They are two very good players and I think they are both best as a number six, I don't think either of them can play in attack.

"Enzo had his breakthrough at the World Cup when he was playing in front of the back four and Caicedo was doing the same at Brighton.

"The problem is that Mauricio Pochettino has a big injury list and he is trying to fit in the best players to accommodate that and not leave anyone out.

"If you are not an individual player like a winger, you need the team to be performing in order for you to perform.

"They are in the middle of the park so they need the whole team to be performing around them and I don't think Chelsea are functioning in the best way at the moment. For Enzo and Caicedo I think it is a matter of time before the team starts to perform.

"We need to be honest and say that when you change the whole plan of the club you need to take time to adjust. If during that time there is a change of managers then it can take a bit longer."