Win-or-bust for Chelsea head coach Potter at Tottenham – with sack threat looming
Chelsea head coach Graham Potter must win at Tottenham on Sunday if he is to retain his job.
The pressure is ramping up on the Blues boss to steer his beleaguered charges up the Premier League table.
Potter gave his underperforming players two days off this week after their dismal 1-0 home loss to bottom of the league Southampton on Saturday.
The boos from the fans must have still been ringing in his ears, yet he still allowed the players their scheduled break. However it will not have altered any of the tension engulfing their Cobham training base.
While co-owner Todd Boehly continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring of the club – three more senior operatives exited the club last week – Potter is left to be the lightning rod attracting the focus of the criticism.
Chelsea has won just twice in the last 14 matches.
In a last-ditch manoeuvre, the former Brighton boss had a clear- the-air meeting with his staff this week in an attempt to find a solution. The Blues are closer to the relegation zone than a Champions League position.
It’s unclear if any specific action plan was agreed to, but there was a sense of unity among the staff that they are all in it together.
It’s not difficult to cite the area that needs to be addressed.
With a goal-difference of zero – 23 at either end – it’s the lack of balls in the back of the net which has transformed the recent Champions League and World Club champions into also-rans.
They are out of all domestic cup competitions and their Champions League position is hanging by a thread after their
1-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16.
They face the Germans in the reverse fixture, at Stamford Bridge on March 7, but it’s unclear whether Potter will be in charge.
The continued isolation of Pierre-Emerick Augmenting continues to be the albatross hanging round Potter’s neck.
The striker might as well take the rest of the season off as only a major injury crisis will see the former Arsenal and Barcelona hitman don a Blues shirt again.
Last week was the perfect opportunity for Potter to reintroduce the player to the side, but he opted for youngster David Forfana, who, with 42 games under his belt for Molde, was given the chance to lead the attack at Stamford Bridge against the Saints – he lasted 45 minutes.
Chelsea Women face Arsenal on Sunday in the quarter-final of the FA Cup at Kingsmeadow.
The Blues rarely fire on all cylinders following an international break, and it’s hoped that Arsenal will suffer similar reactions.
However there are no injury worries for the Blues, but club skipper Magda Eriksson and goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger are expected to be plonked on the bench again after starring in Chelsea’s 7-0 League Cup semi-final victory over Wert Ham – the last match before the international break.