Chelsea owners make decision on Graham Potter's future amid poor form - Reports
The Chelsea hierarchy have reportedly not lost faith in manager Graham Potter despite a dismal run of five defeats in seven Premier League games. The London club were beaten 0-1 at home by Manchester City in their latest league outing and are 10th in the standings.
The defeat keeps the Blues 10 points away from the Champions League spots and has raised concerns over the future of their English manager. However, the club will continue to back Graham Potter, as reported by The Telegraph's Matt Law.
Chelsea owners keep the faith in Potter, who is prepared to give the kids more chances amid crippling injury crisis #cfc twitter.com/TeleFootball/s…
Potter's side were the better team in the first half of their clash against the defending Premier League champions. Pep Guardiola's men made a strong start to the second half of the game, with substitutes Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez combining to score the only goal of the night.
Fitness issues have been a real problem for Chelsea in recent times. The Blues suffered injury setbacks yet again as both Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic had to be withdrawn during the game against City.
Mason Mount also joined the growing injury list ahead of the game, with the likes of Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Ngolo Kante and others also sidelined.
Graham Potter also didn't have a pre-season with his team and couldn't buy the players that fit his gameplan as Thomas Tuchel was still in charge during the summer transfer window.
With just 25 points from 17 games, Potter is under pressure to deliver results after an outlay of over €330 million in the transfer market so far since Todd Boelhy's takeover.
The Blues will face Manchester City again in their next game as they travel to the Etihad Stadium for an FA Cup third-round clash.
Chelsea manager Graham Potter reacted to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's performance against Manchester City
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on as an early replacement for Raheem Sterling during Chelsea's clash against Manchester City. The Gabonese, however, was replaced in the 68th minute of the match.
Graham Potter reacted to the striker's performance as he told the media after the match (via Football.London):
“He came on after one minute, hadn’t played for a while, and put in an absolute shift for us given Manchester City make you run a lot. I thought he did everything he could for the team. He was fatiguing a little bit, same as Hakim [Ziyech], so that was the decision."
The lack of awareness from Havertz is criminal. Aubameyang was right there. Smh!! https://t.co/gMfIWeBJ0d
On his decision to take the former Arsenal striker off during the game, Potter said:
"We needed a little bit of energy so I thought we could use Omari [Hutchinson], Conor [Gallagher], and Lewis [Hall]. Of course, players want to stay on the pitch and influence the game. It’s a normal reaction.”