Graham Potter has reflected upon the ‘fixture and injury mess’ at Chelsea since he made the switch to west London two months ago.
The 47-year-old head coach left Brighton & Hove Albion in September to replace Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.
Since arriving the Blues have played a total of 11 games and have only lost once which came a week ago against the south coast side Potter left for Chelsea.
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In the other ten games, the Englishman’s side have won six times and drawn the other four, a good return given the slow start they’d had to the season under Tuchel.
During that time, Potter has guided his team through Group E in Europe very comfortably after a rocky beginning in the group stage.
He became the first head coach since Roberto Di Matteo to go unbeaten in his first five Champions League games after a 2-1 victory against Dinamo Zagreb.
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Despite some good results, it still hasn’t been an easy month for the Blues.
The fixtures have been coming thick and fast for the 47-year-old and with that injuries have hampered Chelsea.
Reece James, N’Golo Kante and Wesley Fofana all suffered long-term injuries, and most recently Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ben Chilwell have been added to that list.
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In October alone, a total of nine games were played and it made it tricky for Potter to decide how to rotate his side to keep players fresh.
Chelsea now have three games remaining until the World Cup gets underway, two clashes in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup.
On Sunday, they take on top of the league Arsenal in what is their last game at home before Qatar.
The game itself would be challenging enough, but with the large injury list things will be made even more difficult.
Ahead of the game in his pre-match press conference Potter spoke about his opening two months in charge.
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He said: "Objectively it's been a lot of games in a very short space of time, training time very limited. Getting to know the players, really happy with the response from the group, understanding them more.
"Performance wise we can do more and improve. At the same time, when you understand the mess of fixtures and injuries, we've done okay but room to improve on."
The Englishman will be hopeful his side can return to winning ways in the Premier League after their heavy defeat last weekend.
The west London side defeated the Gunners 2-0 away from home last season, but have failed to beat them at Stamford Bridge since 2018, so Potter will be looking to overturn that poor record.
Topics: Chelsea, Graham Potter, Football
Sam Collins