Chelsea continue to struggle as they lost 2-1 against Fulham in their latest Premier League clash. However it was not only a defeat for Graham Potter but also a red card for Joao Felix on his Blues debut whereas Dennis Zakaria also struggled with an injury. The Blues have only secured six points from their last nine matches in the Premier League and are in 10th position on the points table. Potter’s men are 10 points behind Manchester United who are in fourth position. So chances of Chelsea featuring in European football next season looks bleak.
It has been a massive struggle for the Blues over the last few matches and the pressure is piling up on GrahamPotter who joined the club midseason following Thomas Tuchel’s departure. Potter acknowledges the suffering of the fans and everyone associated with the club and wants people to stick together and keep supporting as the tough period will get over soon.
“We are suffering at the moment. We’re suffering, the fans are suffering. We feel for them,” said Potter. “It’s important to stick together and try to get through this tough period,” he said.
Before this the Blues went crashing out of the FA Cup 3rd round following a 4-0 thrashing by Manchester City. It was a very closely contested affair against Fulham, atleast it started that way but around 25th minute it was former Chelsea star Willian who scored the goal and allowed the hosts to go ahead in the game. Despite Chelsea’s best efforts they could not restore parity withing halftime.
However clawed their way back in the game right after the restart as Kalidou Koulibaly’s knack of scoring important goals continued as the Blues were now looking to seal all three points in the game. But their plans of going ahead dealt a major blow as Joao Felix was sent off on his Chelsea debut and the visitors were a man down.
Felix was playing a decent game until he came up with a needless studds up challenge on Tete and was sent off for dangerous play. It became very costly for the Blues as they were looking to move ahead in the game with the aim of securing all three points. But it backfired for them as Fulham striker Carlos Vinicius made them pay for a defensive mistake and headed the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga. The goal sealed the win for the hosts as the Craven Cottage and Chelsea suffered yet another defeat.
Potter believes that Chelsea can improve on the defensive side of things and overall they need to improve on their basics to get back to positive results. “It’s really frustrating, incredibly challenging,” said Potter of the situation. “I feel for the supporters.
“We’re disappointed to lose tonight. I felt it was a relatively even game in the first half, we had a couple of chances. But I think the basics we can do a little bit better, in terms of our defending and football actions,” he concluded.
Chelsea will next host Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on 15th January followed by a trip to Anfield as they will take on Liverpool on 21st January. Potter will hope that there’s a turn around for the Blues, soon the better.
